


These Violent Delights

by A55hole69



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multiple Personalities, Pansexual Wade Wilson, Parent Tony Stark, PoC, Recreational Drug Use, Suicide, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2019-12-18 09:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 68,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18246710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A55hole69/pseuds/A55hole69
Summary: "Dad, when was the last time you slept?"Tony thought about it for a while before snapping his fingers, "It was Tuesday.""You haven't slept in two days?""I never said this Tuesday.""Dad!"





	1. Chapter 1

February 3rd 1989,

An eighteen year old Tony sat in the waiting room of a hospital, waiting anxiously for the Doctors to tell him when it was okay to come in so he could see his girlfriend, Valentina. It had been almost thirteen hours since her water broke and three hours since she kicked him out for babbling nonsense.

Finally, the Doctors came out with pity in his eyes as he shook his head, "Ms. Alma didn't make it, sir."

Tony let out a shaky breath, "And the baby."

"Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby boy. I'll have a nurse take you to him." Tony nodded and followed the nurse.

After signing the documents needed, Tony was finally able to hold his son and as soon as he saw him he fell in love. When Tony found out Valentina was pregnant months ago, he swore that he would be a better father that his ever was, Howard was obviously not okay with this new discovery and tried talking him into abandoning the baby, but Tony held his ground, insisting on keeping it.

The nurse carefully handed him the Tony baby and he took him, "Hello little Axel Stark."

****

For the first two years, Axel was worryingly quiet, the boy barely ever cried and when it came time for him to start speaking, the time passed and he was still quiet. Howard made very snide comments, telling him that's what happens when you knock up the Mexicans, to which Tony punched him in his face.

Months had gone by and still nothing from the two-year old, until Tony's twenty first birthday. At the end of the party, after the guests had left and Tony headed down to his lab. He had been working on a new project when he heard a soft voice behind him.

"Happy Birthday, Daddy." Tony quickly turned around and saw Axel walking - more like waddling - toward him. Tony got up and met him half way, picking him up and sitting him on his lap.

"How long have you been able to talk?"

Axel shrugged, "Long time. I didn't say nothing cause I wanna sound like big boy."

"You didn't have to do that, you had me worried."

"Sorry Daddy."

Tony shook his head, "Nothing to be sorry about, Axe. I'm very proud of you."

Axel squealed and jumped up wrapping his arms around Tony's neck, "Love you Daddy."

Tony teared up a little, "Love you to."

****

When he was six, Axel became obsessed with ballet. He would dress in a tutu and dance around the house with Queen blasting in the background.

Tony had taken him to ballet classes where he was the only boy in the class, which got the two of them plenty looks from the parents. One dad even pulled Tony aside and asked him if he wanted his son to grow up as a fairy to which Tony replied by pulling Axel out of the class and putting him in a different one.

His preference of clothing had also gotten him a lot of mean comments as the years past. At first it was just verbal, kids in middle school could be very mean when they wanted to and Axel tried to not let them get to him. He ignored them, thinking that eventually they would stop, and he was right. They left him alone until the very last day, right before summer then high school.

They beat him half to death with baseball bats while spitting slurs at him. The most repeated was, "Go back to Mexico you fucking fag." 

He had been curled up on the ground when he passed out and the boys left him in the middle of the parking lot while all the other kids watched and he stayed there until a couple minutes later when Happy pulled up and spotted him, immediately carrying him to the hospital.

Axel spent two weeks in a coma.

After those two weeks, he woke up to a voice in his head, "Get up you spineless cunt."

Axel frowned and opened his eyes, thinking it was someone in the room with him but all he saw was his dad in the chair next to him sleeping. He shook his head, "Just hearing things." His mouth felt extremely dry, he looked around for water and reached for it on the bedside table, finding his arm in a cast.

Axel looked down at his arm in confusion and checked the other arm, it was bare except two bandages, one around his wrist and another running down his fore arm.

"Get a good look at what those little bitches did to us." Axel jumped out of his skin and looked around frantically, still nobody was there. "I'm in your head, idiot. I've always been inside your head, never to come out, watching you fuck our lives up from a distance. That's not happening again though, I will fuck up everyone who ever tries to hurt us ever again."

Axel relaxed a bit, but was still rigid at the fact he had a voice in his head, "You have a very filthy vocabulary."

"And you need to stop letting everyone walk all over you, if you don't stand up for yourself high school is going to kill us, and I really don't want to die yet."

"Well neither do I but I don't like hitting people, it makes me feel really bad." Axel whispered.

"Then kick the shit out of them, better yet, let me at 'em, I will fuck their faces up so bad that their own mother wouldn't be able to identify the body."

Axel squealed a little , "That's murder, we can't do that, we would go to jail. I can barely handle out here, jail is probably so much worse."

"No one has to know you idiot."

"I can't keep a secret, I'm terrible at it."

"If I ever kill someone remind me to never tell you."

Axel gasped sharply, "What do you mean if? You would never do that right?" After a moment of silence Axel's eyes widened and he whispered, "Right?"

"Sure."

The voice didn't sound very convincing but it made him relax a bit, "What's your name?"

"You may call me Enzo."

There was movement beside him, Axel turned in time to see Tony waking up, "Hey dad."

Tony bounded up and hugged him, "Oh thank god, that is never happening again. I was so worried, the doctors thought you weren't gonna make it, you got hit in the head pretty hard." 

Tony pulled back and held Axel's face in his hands and frowned, "What happened to your eyes?"

"What do you mean?" Tony reached for the mirror on the table and handed it to him.

Axel stared at the mirror in confusion when he saw that one of to his chocolate brown eyes changed to green and the other stayed the same. 

"I am now a part of you." Enzo whispered in his head.

****

Axel found high school to be so much easier, there was still the name calling but instead of the racist or homophobic slurs, everyone called him the psycho. A group of kids found him arguing with himself in the back of the cafeteria and there was an incident in his freshman year where the school bully tried to beat him up, for wearing a cropped feather jacket and putting his hair into space buns, when the kid tried to hit him, his attitude changed from the bubbly person he was seconds ago, to this terrifying person who punched the guy in the face until he was bleeding heavily and just walked away, cracking his bloody knuckles.

Although most of the school was afraid of him, they could not deny that his plays were always the best. Axel started writing the school plays in his junior year, right after he dropped out of ballet, he wrote songs for the musicals and was the head of the school newspaper. His plays were always amazing, they moved the audiences with his tales of love and tragedy, which got him a scholarship to NYU. 

Tony was always there in the front row cheering the loudest or crying the hardest. Tony didn't care if he had a meeting for work or a project to finish, he never missed one of Axel's plays. He once walked out of a meeting in Japan because it was going on to long and he would have missed Axel's play.

Tony was his biggest fan and sometimes Axel would get insecure, since he didn't have a mechanical bone in his body, he didn't ever understand anything his dad was talking about when he would ramble about engines, he always thought Tony would get tired of him and stop paying him any attention.

Enzo always called him a cunt whenever he had this thoughts and showed him why he was overreacting.

Axel loves his dad which is why it almost killed him when he heard the news.

It was in the middle of the second semester of his first year at college when Pepper called him it has been clear in her voice that she was crying when she told him that Tony was missing. He was going to go back but Pepper insisted that he stay at school. 

"I don't think this could get any worse." He curled up on his bed and cried.

"Not to be insensitive or anything, but shut the fuck up before you jinx it. We already have enough problems as it is." 

"Fuck you Enzo."


	2. Chapter 2

Axel remember the first time this happened to him, getting murdered, as he floated in the murky waters of the East river, days after his dad went missing, with two bullet holes in his chest closing up and spitting out the bullets. Axel is brought back to that moment in seventh grade where the bullies held his head in the toilet too long and he drowned.

The dying part isn't what hurt, the part where the friend he thought he had stood there over him dunking his head in the toilet and waking up realizing they left him in there when they thought he was dead.

The same hurt he felt then, he felt it stronger now, knowing his Uncle Obadiah is the one who pulled the trigger. Enzo was lingering at the back of his head planning how to 'murder the fat fuck' as he put it.

When his body finally healed itself, he snapped back into consciousness and swam to the surface taking in a large breath of fresh air, well as fresh as it could get in New York.

He wiped his long hair out of his face so he could see, and swam to the rocky shore.

The second time it happened, was an accident, he was sixteen when he slipped in the shower and cracked open his skull on the tiles. When he woke up, the cut in his face was gone and just blood remained. After the shock settled, Enzo never let it go and decided that he would take control until he thought Axel was careful enough not to get them killed a third time.

That lasted a week, when Enzo tried to play hero, he spotted someone in trouble and got stabbed in the neck, left to die in a dirty alley. 

"I swear to god, I'm gonna pull his spine through his fucking mouth and feed it to his mother."

Axel sat on the ground panting, "I'm like 90% certain that his mother is dead."

"We could shoot him in the head and have that homeless thief fuck the hole."

Axel was far to tired to answer to that, he simply groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We need to get out of here before we freeze to death, I am not too keen on dying twice in one night."

Axel looked down at his soaked clothes, his leather pants were salvaged but his maroon floral blouse was ruined and he didn't even want to think about the suede ankle boots he was wearing.

He grumbled under his breath, "Those were my favourite fucking shoes, we're gonna fuck him up so bad."

"That's the spirit!" 

"Or we should go to the cops, they are much better equipped for this sort of thing." 

Axel could feel Enzo rolling his eyes, "You had me going there for a second. Why don't you let me do the murdering and you could just sit back and rest your pretty self."

Axel walked through the dark streets listening to Enzo list all the ways he would kill Obadiah. He was starting to get tired when he spotted a blue bicycle.

Enzo scoffed, "I don't understand why you don't just steal a fucking car, we practiced that for eight weeks and we were really good at it until you pussied out."

"Someone would probably hear and we don't need any extra attention, people are already looking at me funny for talking to you."

As he rode of he had a sudden thought, "Enzo what if Stane did the same thing to dad, tried to kill him I mean."

"After tonight I wouldn't doubt it, all the more reason to kill the asshole, we need to be careful now, he thinks we're dead we keep it that way till they find dad."

Axel nodded, "Then we slit that motherfucker's throat and make him eat his dick."

Axel could hear Enzo stuttering in complete shock, "Where the fuck did that come from?"

"I've had you in my head for five years." Axel stopped at his loft, he slowly climbed the stairs, "That's the last time anyone, excluding dad or Pepper or Rhodey, trick us with the promise of food. We didn't even get to eat anything, he is the most evil person ever, even a good hit man would've fed us before killing us. Not even a fucking mozzarella stick. I'm gonna stab him in the dick for that."

Axel entered the loft and dropped his keys onto the kitchen counter, he stripped his clothes and took a quick shower to get the dirty river water off. He didn't even bother putting on clothes since he lived alone and he just didn't feel like going through the hassle of putting on clothes right now.

"You really wanted those cheese sticks didn't you?"

Axel scoffed, "Please don't ask stupid questions, of course I did, we don't have any food in here besides two apples and that pizza we had last night. All we ate today was that chicken salad for lunch."

Axel contemplated heating up the pizza or just eating it cold and in the end laziness won with him shrugging and taking a bite of it, he made his way over to the couch, naked with two slices in his hand.

"You are an absolute disaster." Enzo sighed as Axel choked on the pizza and ran to the kitchen for water, tripping over one of his discarded shoes.

"Fuck off."


	3. Chapter 3

Axel sat in a dark corner of the Sister Margaret's bar he was so very fond of, working on a script he was hired to write, a murder mystery. He got the job weeks ago and was stuck at the murder part, he didn't know anything about murder, having never killed anyone and most of the scenarios sounded cliché.

"What if we go out and murder somebody?"

Axel rolled his eyes at Enzo's suggestion for what felt like the millionth time and ignored him. He stared at the blank page on the laptop in front of him and bit his lip. Sighing, he took his glasses off and rubbed his face in frustration.

"We could get Stane, that would be an amazing story to tell. We could gut him and hang him by his entrails."

Axel groaned in disgust, "We are not doing that, that sounds horrifying."

"It has to be dramatic, gory, sickening to the stomach, we have to sell it or else the studio won't buy it."

"Can't we do something that won't scar me for life, or you do it and tell me how it went. How bout that?"

He could feel Enzo rolling his eyes, "You are such a pussy. Doesn't it make you angry that he killed us and maybe dad?"

"Of course it does but gutting him is a bit too far." Axel closed the laptop and put it in his bag.

"You wanna know what's too far, him shooting us in the head twice, for what, a company that we wanted nothing to do with. We never planned to take over Stark Industries, we don't even know how to work our laptop properly, how the fuck does he think we can take over a business, but he killed us anyway. Don't you want revenge? Don't you wanna see that smug smile wiped off his face when we drive that knife through his stomach?"

"Of course I do, but I don't think I have the stomach for this. Why can't you do it?" Axel got up from his booth and headed straight for the door.

"I was hoping you were braver than me. I've never done something like this before, even the thought of killing someone makes me feel shitty."

Axel frowned and before he could answer he was cut off by someone stepping in front of him, it was so sudden that he didn't have time to stop and ended up bumping into their chest. Axel opened his mouth to say something, but his words died in his throat when he looked up and saw two lovely brown eyes staring down at him.

"How much do you think a polar bear weighs?" The stranger asked, Axel blinked several times trying to process the question.

"What?" He frowned in confusion at the strange question, "I don't know. How much do you think it is?" 

"It's enough to break the ice." The man stuck his hand out, "Hi, I'm Wade."

Axel smiled in amusement, "Axel." He shook Wade's hand and held it, they stood there and stared into each other's eyes for a while until someone next to them cleared their throat.

"If you're gonna fuck, please, not in my bar."

Axel snapped out of his gaze and blushed bright red, Enzo snickered in the back of his head, "God, this is pathetic."

Wade sat in a bar stool and gestured for him to take the one next to him. "What's a place like you doing in a guy like this?"

"This is probably the only bar around here, where I wouldn't get beat up and Weasel sells the best weed." 

Wade's eyebrows shot up, "No judgement would ever come from anyone in here, is being mercenaries and shit."

Axel's eyes widened, "Mercenaries, meaning you've killed people before?"

"Don't get scared, I won't ever hurt you. Unless you were a child molester or something."

Axel shook his head and dug his laptop out of him bag, "I'm not scared, there's nothing you could do to me that hasn't already been done," Wade looked at the boy in concern, "I just need your help. I'm writing the script for a low budget film for my finals and I got stuck with murder mystery and I have no idea how to write a murder, I'm probably this close to going out and killing someone." Axel looked across at a baffled Wade, "Could you please help me?" 

Wade blinked a few times and shrugged, "Sure, I've got nothing better to do."

****

Axel was outside of the SI building, nervous and breathing hard, "I can't do this, what if we get caught."

"We ditched our car at the house, our face is covered, you're wearing gloves and we've been planning this for a week. All we have to do is, go in, cut the bastard's throat and get out. It's that simple." Axel nodded, "Also, don't get cut and don't take off the hat, we don't need blood or hair at the scene of the crime."

Looking up at the building made him feel so small, he took a hesitant step forward and stepped back shaking his head, "I can't do it, what if we get caught, we'll be sent to prison, I'm to pretty for prison. I'm probably gonna end up being someone's bitch, we'll never taste chocolate again, no more walking around naked and you have to pee in front of people."

"Get a hold of yourself Axel, we did not spend three days figuring out how to dress like a straight person for nothing, these pants are so fucking uncomfortable and this shirt is so scratchy, let's just do this and move on."

Axel was hyperventilating now, and fanning himself with his gloved hands, he shook his head, "I can't do it. Maybe we could hire Wade to do it, maybe..." 

Enzo took over and rolled his eyes, he pulled the scarf over his face and walked over to the ventilation system and climbed in.

"Hey, you asshole, warm me next time you're gonna do that, I almost passed out."

Enzo huffed as he crawled towards Stane's office, "Good. Then I wouldn't have to listen to you bitch about doing this."

Enzo pulled blueprints out of his pocket, "Okay so we're right here, his office is in the top floor, so we're gonna have to do a lot of crawling tonight." 

It took him thirty two minutes to get to Stane's office, the man was at his desk tapping away on his computer. Enzo went to open the event to climb out but pulled his hand back and shook his head.

"I can't do this."

"What!? Are you fucking kidding me right now? After all that talk about gutting him cutting his dick off, you choke up. We are going through with this right now." Axel pushed forward and Enzo pushed him back.

"No we can't do this, no matter how evil he is we can't do it. If dad found out he would look at us so differently, I can't handle that." Enzo whispered.

"He doesn't have to find out about it, this could be our little secret."

"No we are not doing this, I'm turning back." Enzo moved to turn around only to be stopped by Axel who took over and moved for the vent.

"No the fuck we aren't." 

"Yes we are." The two of them fought for a while until they heard a crawling from below them and before any of them could ask what was happening the vent caved in under their weight and sent them crashing into the office. Enzo landed in the ground hard and groaned in pain. 

He stood up slowly and froze when he heard the click of a gun, "Oh shit." He quickly dived out of the way before the first shot got him, behind the couch and curled up in the fetal position praying he didn't get hit as the bullets tore through the couch.

"We could wait until he runs out of bullets and then make a run for the door." 

Enzo grunted angrily, "Now you want to listen to me. Did you bring the knife?"

"Yes, on your left."

Enzo grabbed it and clutched it to his chest tightly and breathed heavily, trying to calm himself. The gun started clicking, indicating it was empty. Enzo peeked out and saw Obadiah throwing the gun aside, he slowly walked toward the couch. Enzo crawled around to the other side but was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted to his feet, dropping the knife.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Who sent you? HYDRA, SHIELD? HYDRA. I told you I'm working on it, no need to kill me."

Enzo couldn't breath due to the hands wrapped around his neck, his feet were off the ground and he was pulling at Stane's hands trying to pry them off his neck. Stane dropped him onto his desk on his back and pulled down Enzo's mask, his eyes widened for a second, then shock turned into annoyance.

"I thought I killed you." The grip on his neck tightening .

Enzo frantically looked around the desk searching for something to defend himself, but his panicking stopped him from registering anything, prompting Axel to take over. Obadiah stood in between his legs and hovered over him. Which was exactly where he wanted him.

Axel moved quickly, wrapping his legs around the man and pulling him closer, he grabbed Obadiah's face in his hands and moved his thumbs over his eyes, before the man could get a word out, Axel pressed down hard until his thumbs went straight through Stane's eye sockets.

The man screamed in pain and let go of Axel's neck, Axel gasped greedily for air and coughed. He crawled over to where he dropped his knife, picking it up and walking over to the computer, which was thankfully unlocked, he looked through various files for something link Stane to his dad's disappearance and he found it, a video, his dad tied to a chair with men pointing guns at him. 

He gasped lightly, quickly sending it to Rhodey and all the other files he found. 

"How about we just cripple him? That would teach him a lesson, right."

Axel shook his head, "He saw our face, and he tried to kill dad." Axel walked over to the man kneeling down holding his eyes to stop the bleeding. He fiddled with the knife nervously.

"Once we do this, there is no undoing it, that's it."

Axel scoffed, "Don't you think I know that, even if he's a piece of garbage he's still a person. But he knows it's us and we can't have anyone knowing about this." 

There was silence and Enzo huffed, "Let's do it then." 

Axel marched forward and quickly stabbed him in the back of his head and twisted the knife. Stane dropped to the floor and he bled out onto the carpet. Dead.

Axel looked down at his hands, at the bloody knife and trembled, standing still for a moment in confusion. 

He didn't have time to study any of the feelings going through his head because a siren sounded from below. Axel looked up and ran to the window, seeing police cars surrounding the building. 

"Shit!" Axel ran out of the office to the hall, looking around for something to stand on to unscrew the vent, he heard footsteps coming and abandoned the vents going into another office to hide under the desk.


	4. Chapter 4

Axel stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, he was covered in blood from the gunshot wound he acquired unknowingly in his right shoulder, there were bruises littering his neck and his hands were covered in ash from burning the evidence. Enzo went quiet hours ago and he knew it would be a while before he spoke again, due to the shock he was going through.

Axel sighed and got to work on his wound, wondering why he didn't feel it at first he chalked it up to the adrenaline, but that was long gone and he still couldn't feel the gaping hole in his shoulder. He shook it off for now, noting to check that out later. It was a through and through meaning all he had to do was clean it and stitch it. 

He took his hair out of the bun it was in and went in the shower to wash off his blood and the ash.

Axel finished cleaning himself up and sat on his bed in a black fluffy bathrobe and a towel wrapped around his hair. He stared at the wall of his room, picking at his fingers and lost in his thoughts. He thought that after killing Obadiah he would feel horrible and guilty, but when he thought more and more about it he realized he felt nothing. 

Not exactly nothing, he felt something but not guilt or shame, Axel felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, at this moment for the first time in his life, he felt free. This was the first time in his life he didn't hold back, he didn't stay there and take it, he didn't walk away ignoring his urges, he gave in to his urges, his dark desires.

When he saw that knife sticking out of Stane's head and the blood that coated it when he pulled it out, something in the pit of his stomach shuddered in delight and as he stated at the wall he came to a disturbing conclusion, he wanted more.

His thoughts were cut off by his phone ringing, he snapped his head to his computer desk where e the device was and he got up to answer.

"Yes?"

"We found him." Rhodey's voice answered from the other end.

****

Tony spent most of the time in his workshop ever since he got back it had been a week and a half since finding him in the desert after he blew up the base. No one knew exactly how he escaped and Tony didn't satisfy their curiosity, the only people who didn't ask were Axel and Pepper. 

The former just entering the work shop with a tray in his hands. "You look like shit." 

Tony snorted at the boy, "You're one to talk, what's with the turtle necks?"

Axel unconsciously pulled at the top and shrugged, "What's wrong with my turtle necks?"

"I haven't seen you in anything else since I got back. You hiding something?"

Axel forced a smile one his face and set the tray down, "Why would I be hiding something?" Tony narrowed his eyes at the boy and Axel panicked, "I swear it's nothing serious."

Tony walked over to his son, and pulled down the fabric, it happened so quickly that Axel didn't have the chance to protest, "Who the hell did that? What happened?"

The bruise on his neck was a nasty yellow colour now but still very visible, Axel winced at the look on his dad's face, "It's nothing, just some bully, you know how it is when you're this talented."

"You're a shitty liar, Axel. Tell me or I will not rest until I find out."

Axel wrung his hands anxiously and averted his eyes from Tony's gaze, "It was Obadiah."

Tony's eyes went wide, "What?"

"He killed us a month ago and we thought he had something to do with your disappearance, so we came up with going to his office for answers, we thought we could find something, but he was there and he attacked us and we had to defend ourselves." 

Tony, for the first time in his life, was speechless, he kept opening his mouth to say something and closing it. Axel stared at him teary eyed and waited for him to say something. Eventually, he put his thoughts together and asked, "You were the one that tipped off Rhodey?"

Axel nodded. 

"How's Enzo holding up?"

Axel shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea, he hasn't said anything since that night." 

Tony pulled him into a hug and Axel buried his head in his neck, "It's okay, I'm not mad, just shocked. You've never done anything like this before. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, I didn't want to disappoint you and I thought you would hate me because I killed you're friend."

Tony ran his fingers through Axel's curly hair, "He was obviously not a good friend if he betrayed me like that. I hope you never have to go through this."

"I don't have any friends, so no worries." Axel wiped the tears off his face and pulled away from the hug.

"Still? Not one person?"

"Everyone is so boring, all they want to talk about is sex and their futures and partying, it's ridiculous. Although, I sorta met someone in that bar I always tell you about, he was cool."

Tony frowned, "I hope you're not talking about that mercenary bar."

"You knew about that? Yes I mean there, his name is Wade. He helped me with my murder scene and gave me his number."

Tony shook his head violently, "There is no way in hell I would ever let you date a mercenary."

"He was really nice to me, he even walked me home after."

"What is it with being a Stark that we always find some kind of trouble? Why couldn't you just befriend a semi normal person?" Tony sat down and buried his head in his hands.

Axel scoffed, "Your overreacting dad."

"If he gets you in any trouble in gonna kill him." 

Axel rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Eat the freaking chilli."


	5. Chapter 5

Sat in a booth at a diner, Enzo was sipping on a chocolate milkshake, writing in his journal. Half of his hair was up in a bun and the other half down, his glasses were perched on his nose and he was bopping his head to the music playing through his headphones. He just finished his last exam hours before and this was a treat he gave to himself as a congratulations for getting through finals week without having a mental breakdown. It was almost midnight in New York, meaning Enzo would have to go to the loft soon and start packing for his flight back to Malibu in the morning, right now he was just killing time.

From the corner of his eye he could see someone sliding into his booth, at first he ignored them and kept on writing, until they pulled off one of his headphones. Enzo frowned in annoyance and looked up to see Wade sitting there in front of him,"Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh, it's you." He shut his journal and dropped the pen.

"Ouch, that's all I get after helping you with your project?"

Enzo rolled his eyes,"And while I have to hank you for that, I'm afraid your little friend isn't here right now. I'm Enzo. Very nice to finally meet you." Wade frowned,"I understand the confusion, I have a split personality, Axel is the friendly one and I'm the complete opposite."

"Right. So, Enzo."

"Wilson, if you're gonna waste my time please leave, I have to some where to be in fifteen minutes." Enzo checked his watch and finished his milkshake.

"Wow, you are mean. Who hurt you?"

Enzo narrowed his eyes,"What makes you think someone hurt me? Maybe I like being an asshole."

Wade put his hands up in surrender,"Okay, clearly we got off on the wrong foot. How bout a do over? I'm Wade."

Enzo packed up his journal and dropped a fifty dollar on the table,"And I'm leaving, goodbye Wade Wilson, I'm sure Axel will call you whenever." He pulled his jumper sleeves over his hands and picked up his bag to leave.

"At least let me walk you home, New York is a dangerous place at night, especially for someone as sexy as you." Wade walked side by side with Enzo with his hands in his jacket pocket.

"Flattery will get you no where with me. I don't give a shit if you walk with me or not, just know that I can protect myself just fine." They walked down the street in an awkward silence until Wade couldn't take it anymore.

"How old are you? Axel refused to tell me, I just want to make sure I'm not gonna get arrested or anything."

"We are nineteen." Enzo started to regret wearing shorts as the night got increasingly chilly, at the time outside was warm and it looked cute but now his legs were freezing and it wasn't very cute now. He decided to ignore it and humor the man walking him home,"How long have you been a mercenary?"

"About six months, I got back a year ago and after a couple months I realized I missed unaliving people, so I became a mercenary."

Enzo raised an eyebrow,"Why the fuck did you just call it unaliving?"

"I don't like to say the M word. How did you do with the killer story?" They were approaching a group three of guys, two of them were clearly drunk an the last one looked absolutely hammered.

"A+, as usual, my professor loved it and is thinking about making into a play. Do you wanna know how it ends? I remember Axel telling me he went over it with you."

"Yes please, who did? Was it the girlfriend or the wife? It's always the wife."

Enzo shook his head,"Neither, it was his daughter." Wade stopped walking in shock,"I know right, not even I expected that. What happened was she found him with the girlfriend and she went to confront him and he tried to bribe her, cause she's fifteen and he thought she would take it but no, she shot him and tried to make it look like the girlfriend did it."

"What do you mean you didn't even know? Didn't you help write...."

Wade was cut off by one of the drunk guys,"Fucking fairy fag."

Enzo picked up a discarded beer bottle and threw it at his head. "What the fuck did you just say?" 

The drunk guy held his head in pain and his friend went to punch Enzo and Wade caught his fist.

"Why don't you go home we don't want any trouble."

Enzo pushed up the sleeves of his jumper,"Speak for your fucking self Wade, come at me, I'm gonna fucking rip your face off!" The drunk guy lunged forward and Wade caught him and threw him back to his friends, he stumbled back and hit the ground.

Wade lifted Enzo off the ground by his waist and quickly walked away with him squirming angrily in his arms,"Put me down, he better pray he doesn't have a nut allergy, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts so hard, he'll be tasting 'em for months."

"Okay calm down, nobody's giving anybody nut allergies." Wade frantically tried to calm the furious boy, but he seemed to be making the situation worse, he put him down on the pavement and held him by the shoulders, Enzo tried to get out of his grip and run back to the drunks and kick their asses.

"Let me go, I'm gonna peel his fucking face off and make his mother eat it for dinner."

Wade's eyes widened,"You are shockingly violent, how does that much rage fit into such a tiny body."

Enzo's head snapped to him,"Did you just call me short you motherfucker? I will break off your leg and beat you with it you son of a bitch." Suddenly Enzo stopped fighting and yelling and something in his eyes shifted, he looked around and his eyes landed on Wade.

"Hi Wade, what did you say to Enzo to trigger his IED like that? He hasn't been that angry since we were sixteen."

"Just some assholes and I accidentally called him short." 

Axel tsked,"Ooh, you are screwed, he's gonna be glaring at you for months now." He continued walking home.

Wade shook off his shock at the sudden change and walked with him down the street,"Man, you have to be the most interesting person I've ever met."


	6. Chapter 6

Axel sauntered into Tony's work shop in pink crocs, a black mini skirt and a long bright green kimono, which was open showing off the tattoo of a dancing dolphin on his chest, with a tray in his. After years of him dressing like this, Tony still looks at him like he just grew two heads. One would think he would get used to his son dressing like a crazy person but the outfits just kept getting crazier.

"Dude you look like shit. When was the last time you slept?" Axel took a plate with a sandwich off the tray and placed it in front of him.

Tony shrugged and took a bite of the sandwich, "Tuesday I think."

"You haven't slept in two days?" 

Tony put it down and went back to work on making slight moderation to the gauntlet he was working on, "Never said this Tuesday."

"Dad!" Axel's face scrunched up into a scowl and Tony pointed at him.

"You can't tell me anything you are not any better. You once forgot to eat for six days when you were writing that play in high school."

Axel thought it over and realized he still did that, just last week when he was studying, he hasn't eaten anything or slept for four days. "Touché."

"What are you working on?"

Tony flexed his hand in the gauntlet, "I'm working on a suit of armour, like the one I used to get out of the cave before Rhodey found me. I'm about to test it out, wanna be my cameraman?"

Axel shrugged, "Sure, got nothing better to do anyway."

Axel set up the equipment and Tony slipped on the boots and the other gauntlet. Axel placed the camera on the stand and switched it on.

"Okay, I'm ready, and Dum-E is on standby just in case you catch on fire." 

Tony moved to the centre of the room, "This is the first flight test, thrusters at fifty percent. One, two, three, go." Tony started and was thrown across the room. Axel broke down with laughter when the robot made it's way over and sprayed him.

Tony walked to the centre of the room wiping foam from his face, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

Axel calmed down a little, chuckling slightly, "Okay, I'm ready."

They went for five more tried before Tony got the right percentage, he got thrown across the room four more times and was sprayed four more times and Axel died of laughter four more times. 

On the fifth try he got it right, hovering over his cars and everything in the workshop, landing where he lifted off, Dum-E went to spray him again but Tony stopped him.

"Okay, I'm ready." Tony walked over to some machine that out a silver suit on him, Axel was in awe at it and then frowned.

"You built all this in the three weeks I was gone?" 

"Well, I couldn't sleep so yes, yes I did." 

"Cool." Tony took off through the tunnel and Axel turned off the camera. 

Moments later, while Axel was sprawled out across the couch in Tony's workshop watching some shitty reality show, Tony crashed through the roof in one of his cars, promptly scaring the shit out of Axel. 

****

"Why exactly are you making the tin suit? You planning on being a superhero or something?" Axel asked a while later, him and Tony were sitting on the couch watching the shitty reality show Axel had on before Tony came crashing in.

Tony pressed an ice pack on his head and scoffed, "Me? A hero? There's nothing remotely heroic about me, I'm using it to fix my mistakes."

"What mistakes? You didn't do anything."

"I trusted Obadiah and sat there while he was selling my weapons to the enemy, behind my back. I saw a lot of innocent people killed with my weapons and I'll be damned if that happens again. I made a promise to Yinsen and I intend on keeping it."

"Sounds pretty fucking heroic to me." Tony flicked him in his cheek.

"Language."

Axel chuckled and looked across at his dad, "I'm serious, you've always been my hero, Enzo's to. I guess now we'll have to share you with the rest of the world." 

"Are you trying to make me cry?"

"No. Is it working?" Tony let out a soft laugh and shook his head, "It was worth a try." Axel rest his head in Tony's shoulder.

They say and watched the show for a while before Axel remembered something.

"Dad, Obadiah said something before... you know. He said something about getting something for HYDRA or something like that. Do you have any idea what that means?"

Tony froze under him, "Uh, I don't know. I'll check it out."


	7. Chapter 7

Tony had been acting strange ever since Axel mentioned HYDRA. Locking himself up in his work shop for days and only emerging once in a while for food, he cut of Axel's access as well and never told him why and he was getting very worried about his dad. Then he sent Axel to spend the rest of his summer in New Orleans with his grand mother, Brenna.

The thing was Tony hated Brenna and Axel didn't like her much either, the woman was creepy and Axel was 90% sure the woman was a witch or something. Her house was filled with strange statues and ornaments, there was a dream catcher above Axel's bed with small bones woven into it, she even had a skull on her mantel.

He hadn't been to visit the woman since his grand father, Daniel, died. Axel liked Daniel, every time he visited, he would give the boy candy and tell him stories about his mother, he taught the boy how to fish, even though Axel hated it to his core, he went every time because he lived spending time with the man. Then when Axel was sixteen he does of a heart attack. Axel always found that weird, his grandfather never ate unhealthy food and regularly exercised, he was very fit for a sixty year old.

He always suspected his grandmother for that, Tony always told him that not even his mother liked Brenna, although he never specified why.

Axel stood on the porch of the large Victorian styled house contemplating if he should knock or just find a hotel and visit later.

"She's an old bitch, what's she going to do? Hit you with her cane?" Enzo offered up helpfully.

"She could be a witch, I can feel it in my balls and my balls never lie. What if she sacrifices us on an later if children's homes or something? I don't wanna be sacrificed Enzo."

"Just knock and if she tries anything, we can knock her out and get the fuck outta here."

Axel sighed and knocked on the wooden door three times. It was almost seven so she was probably still awake, the curtains were so dark he couldn't tell if the lights were on or not. Moments later the door opened and dark skinned woman appeared in a long black robe, her hair was wrapped up in a black silk cloth and her feet were bare. She looked younger since the last time he saw her, and he wonders if it was really good skin cream or if she sacrificed some poor goat and bathed in it's blood or whatever witches do.

Axel stood there awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck, "Hey grandma."

She didn't respond, just opened the door wider to let him in, "Axel. Your father called, so I prepared your old room."

Axel nodded and stepped inside. The place hadn't changed a bit, creepy everything still all over, still the same scent of burning sage, the creepy wooden figures perched on the mantel beside the skull. Axel was always afraid to ask if that thing was real.

"You can go out down your bags and come back down, I'm brewing us some tea in the kitchen."

Axel nodded and made his way upstairs to his old room. Nothing really changed in the house, the creepy dream catcher was still over his bed, same closet and the vanity was still there. Axel dropped his bags on the bed and shredded his uncomfortable leather pants for black basketball shorts and tied his long mess of curls into a bun.

Axel joined Brenna in the kitchen for some tea. It turned out spending time with her wasn't all bad, she was kind of interesting. They spent an hour talking after they finished the tea before Axel started getting sleepy and excused himself. Everything looked like it was going to be alright.

****

Axel looked around at six people in black robes with bowls in their hands, their faces covered except the person directly in front of him, Brenna, who's face was uncovered and was wearing what looked like a crown of bones in her head. They were in some kind of crypt, with torches lot in the background. Axel knew he should've trusted his balls and not drink that tea, he went to sleep in his bed and woke up, tied to a slab of rock, with these creepy bitches standing over him.

"Why does this always happen to us?" Enzo asked, the question lingered in his mind and he wondered the same thing, every time things were going smooth, someone tried to sacrifice him to the gods or something.

Brenna raised a wooden cup in the air, "We are gathered here today, offering our gods a sacrifice, a pure heart, untainted by greed, lust and wrath. Today the wait is over, twenty years we waited for the harvest and now here it is. Ladies, join hands and repeat the chant as we practiced."

They started repeating something in Latin, swaying side to side like a group of lunatics. Axel knew he should be a bit worried or terrified, but he wasn't, he had been killed at least five times before another time isn't going to matter. Besides he knew Brenna probably wouldn't get what she wanted since he was pretty sure killing Obadiah counted as wrath. He almost regretted not losing his virginity so he couldn't cross out two of the three.

They stopped chanting and one of them on his right side pulled out a dagger, placing a wooden bowl under his wrist and cutting vertically, letting blood pour out into the bowl. Axel flinched in pain.

She let go of his hand when she had enough and passed the bowl to the others who dropped stuff in it and they have it to Brenna, who chanted some more Latin over it and walked over to Axel's head, she propped him up and put the bowl to his head, forcing him to drink the contents, roughly pressing her hand to his mouth so he didn't spit it back up, Axel gagged at the taste, struggling against her but eventually he swallowed.

"This is a great story opportunity." Enzo whispered, Axel rolled his eyes and whispered back.

"Now is not the fucking time."

The six bitches chanted again and everything in the crypt started shaking, but they kept chanting, until everything stilled. The torches went out suddenly and they stopped chanting, everything went cold in the dark crypt, colder than expected, then the torches lit again. Axel breathed in ragged breaths, suddenly feeling tired, it was probably blood loss from the cut in his wrist which was still bleeding.

Brenna walked over to his head with a dagger, "Twenty years I've waited for this, ever since I heard Valentina was pregnant, I thought finally, the useless girl is good for something. Shame I had to kill her. Then Daniel started snooping and I couldn't have that, as much as I loved the man, the harvest is far more important."

"I knew it! The old bitch is crazy, we should have gotten the fucking hotel, we could be stuffing our face with beignets, watching keeping up with the kardashians. I can't believe she killed Papi, what the fuck is wrong with her?" Enzo ranted in his head as Axel frowned at the woman.

"Twenty years was well worth the wait." Brenna grabbed Axel by his hair and slit his throat open deep. Axel made choking noises as his blood gushed out and looked around his head. Brenna finished the chant as he lay there dying, looking into his eyes as the life drained out of them without a hint of remorse. "No more resurrections for you."

Axel took one last breath and his tan skin started hardening like rock and turning a dark gray, the torches went out and the witches exited the crypt. Not looking back to see the gray stone start to crumble.


	8. Chapter 8

Hours later inside the crypt, on the slab of stone where Axel's body lay, the stone began crumbling off of his body and his fingers started twitching. A loud gasp came from the boy as he breathed in fresh air and frantically looked around at his surroundings. He noted he was still in the crypt and it was day time, but his body felt weird, looking down at the rest of his body he realized it was covered in stone and he giggled.

"This brings a new meaning to being stoned." He lay there, giggling at his joke like a mad man.

"Oh god, why didn't she kill me. Just finish the job." Enzo groaned.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Why you gotta be like that. That was clearly one of my best jokes."

"Then I really don't want to hear the worst one."

Axel rolled his eyes and sat up, breaking away the stone in the process. He jumped off the Alabama stretched out, "Nothing like a good old sacrifice to get the blood pumping. God, I'm fucking starving."

"How are you so unbothered by this? Our grandma just tried to kill us. No she actually did kill us, for some harvest shit, she didn't even bar an eye. And she admitted to killing Papi and our mom. What is wrong with you?"

Axel rolled his eyes, "I've never met her and I got over Papi's death years ago, what's the point of bringing that back, we always knew she did it, why would her admitting it change anything."

Axel could feel his companion getting annoyed, "You should get angry, she took people from you for power, she used us. We should rip her heart out and feed it to her little followers."

Axel made his way out of the crypt seemingly thinking over Enzo's little rant, "Sure. Whatever you want."

The crypt was in the Quarter, and it was day time, Axel was covered in blood, dressed in basketball shorts and nothing else, no shoes nothing, his hair was caked with dried blood and blood covered half his face and his entire chest. People looked at him strange and started to 'subtly' back away from him. 

Axel made his way through the Quarter ignoring the idiots, some of them were on their phones and some of them just ran. "What's wrong with these idiots?"

"We just walked out of a cemetery, covered in dried blood, what do you think."

Axel continued to ignore them in favour of finding food. "Makes sense I guess." He spotted a convenience store a couple stores down and picked up his pace.

As soon as he entered he got a funny look from the cashier and the security guard.

"Hey man, you need some help?" The security guard asked.

Axel shook his head and picked up the first edible thing he could get his hands on which was potato chips, he opened the bag and are them as he wondered further down the aisle and picked up two boxes of pop tarts.

"Hey, you can't do that. You gotta pay for that. Hey!" The guard charged toward him. 

Axel rolled his eyes, "Fuck off."

The guard pulled his taser gun, "Get out before I tase your ass."

Axel continued to raid the store for food, "I am quaking in my boots right now." He deadpanned.

The guard pulled the trigger, getting him in his back but Axel turned around and raised an eyebrow, the voltage did nothing to him.That in itself was worrying him, but he had bigger problems like the annoying guard in front of him.

"That tickled, now go away." The guard pulled out a baton and struck Axel on the arm, again Axel didn't even flinch, he stared at the guard, slightly amused as the man hit him again and again. He could hear sirens outside meaning the clerk called the cops. His theory was proven when two cops burst in to the aisle pointing their guns at him.

"Fuck these people are annoying." Enzo grumbled.

"Get down on the ground now!" Axel continued eating the chips, ignoring the guard and the cops who were making their way toward him. One of them grabbed his arm roughly, only to be thrown across the room when Axel pushed him off.

Axel frowned, "Huh, this is new."

"How the fuck are you so nonchalant about this Axe? I'm freaking out right now, where the hell did that come from?"

"Enzo, calm your tits, it's not like we're dying or something. I wonder if they have any chocolate milk." He walked away to find it while the guard checked in the fallen cop and the other called for back up.

"Do not move! I need back up at Jason's." The other cop yelled into his communicator. Axel continued ignoring him and looked for the milk. "Stay where you are or I will shoot."

"Cute."

He heard a shot ring out before he saw the blood splatter on the glass of the fridge. Axel looked down and saw a gaping hole in his chest closing itself. Behind him he could hear someone gasping before dropping, Axel turned around and saw the cop drop, blood pooling around him, and on his back, a hole the same place he shot Axel.

"This is very new." Axel continued his search for the milk and came up empty, "Fuckers don't have any milk. What kind of shit is this? Ooh, Coco pops, don't mind if I do." He dropped the half bag of chips and picked up the box on the shelf. Axel walked out of the store, with his hand buried in the box.

Police cars surrounded the entrance and all the cops had their guns pointed at him. "Get down on the ground!" 

"What are you gonna do, shoot me?" Axel was starting to get annoyed, he didn't even do anything, on purpose. All he wanted to do was take a long hot shower and watch cartoons all night, but no, everyone wants to shoot him for stealing coco pops and pop tarts.

The cops didn't stop the yelling and he could feel something building inside him, he felt himself changing, his hands started growing bigger and he dropped the box.

"The fuck?" His voice came out in a deep growl and he felt himself grow a few inches. The cops looked on in horror and started shooting at him, which made him even more annoyed and he let out a demonic roar.

****

Brenna entered her house, and suddenly stopped when she felt a dark presence in her living room. Cautiously, she walked in and switched on the light, gasping at the sight of Enzo, covered head to toe in blood sitting in her armchair.

"Miss me?" His voice cracked like he had been screaming for hours, his eyes were tinged red, as though he was crying for hours as well.

"Axel? How?"

"Axel's not in today, but I'll be sure to pass on your message." Brenna's eyes popped out of her head, and Enzo smiled maniacally and slowly made his way towards her. "What Grammy? Nothing to say?"

"You're supposed to be dead."

"Clearly not." She started mumbling under her breath and fire appeared in her hands, she threw it at him and he caught it. 

"You spent sixty five years of your life practicing magic and that's the best you could come up with." He tilted his head and stopped in front of her.

"What do you want?"

Enzo tsked, "Your life, in the palm of my hands." He whispered in her ear. She gave him a look of confusion, he kissed her cheek and drive his hand through her chest, "Shouldn't have killed Papi." 

He pulled her heart out and watched her lifeless body drop in the floor, throwing her heart beside her.

He stood there for a while staring, "Can you stop being dramatic and take a fucking shower, I feel gross." Axel cut the silence and Enzo sighed in annoyance.

"Yes, God, you are so fucking bitchy sometimes."

"I have a right to be bitchy, there's chunks of cop in my fucking hair."


	9. Chapter 9

Axel was breathing heavily and trembling in fear and horror and what he had just done. He looked down at his bloody hands, eyes widened, he cast a glance at the bodies torn apart in the small diner he decided to eat in. The place once covered in pastel colours, was covered in blood, the counter too was dripping with the red liquid and in the middle of it all, Axel knelt downgrading at his hands on shock.

Everything was silent.

He did this.

Whatever Brenna did to him made him into this monster. He ripped these people limb from limb as euphoria spread throughout his body, at the time he loved it but now, as he looked down at his hands he felt nothing but disgust.

After killing Brenna, he left New Orleans and decided to go back home, to Malibu with his dad. He had gotten hungry during the drive and pulled up to some 50's style diner in the middle of nowhere. It was fine at first, the people were nice, although he did get some looks for his outfit. Crocs and mismatched thigh high socks, red shorts and a bright green t-shirt. His hair was a mess of dark curls thrown into an insanely messy bun.

He was in the middle of eating his blueberry pancakes when the men in black came in, everyone in the diner exited quickly as soon as they saw them. 

There was old music playing in the back ground.

As soon as everyone cleared out, the men in black walked toward him. Axel knew he had nothing to worry about, he wasn't scared or nervous, just curious.

The men had a logo on their jacket saying SHIELD, they kept approaching and he kept eating. He wasn't entirely bothered by them, just curious.

"Axel Stark. Your father has been up to no good..." Axel cut off the leader by dropping his knife and fork in the plate, letting them clang on the plate, a noise the men winced at.

"Daddy's been bad so you're here to kidnap me and threaten to kill me if he doesn't stop being naughty."

"Essentially, yes. He took something of ours, an asset and refuses to give it back. If you would come with us peacefully we will not use brute force."

Axel picked up his fork and continued eating, he dryly replied, "I am quaking in my Gucci boots right now."

The men looked taken aback as if this wasn't normal and frowned. The music continued to play softly in the background.

The leader smirked wickedly and roughly grabbed Axel's arm, yanking him out of his seat. "I'm gonna beat the snark outta you and put those pretty lips to good use. What do you think guys?"

The two guys on his left answered, "Yeah. Maybe we can take turns, Rumlow."

The other men watched in amusement as Rumlow dragged Axel out of the diner and the boy was getting angry. He could feel an unexplainable rage bubbling to the surface, like in New Orleans with the cops, and he felt himself changing. This time it was faster, one second he's being dragged out and the next, he's towering over the men, who suddenly had guns and were shooting at him.

The bullets did nothing but bounce off of him and irritate him even more, a deep demonic sound came from his mouth and he proceeded to rip the men apart. 

He got distracted when he walked past a reflective surface and saw himself in this form for the first time. He looked like a giant black wolf with fire for eyes, no pupils just fire. 

He was ripped from his train of thought when he felt something rip at his skin. Axel looked down at the culprit and saw Rumlow with a large broken knife. He growled and snapped his jaws around the man's upper body ripping him in half.

After seeing this, two of the men ran out of the diner and sped off down the road leaving three others scrambling to get to the door, but Axel was quicker, he blocked the door with one of his legs effectively trapping them inside the diner. They quickly backed away and tried to run for the backdoor, but Axel jumped in front of them and picked up two of them with his mouth and used them as a chew toy and the third backed into a corner. 

He dropped to his knees and pleaded, "Please don't kill me. Please just let me go."

The man pleaded and Axel tilted his head mockingly, the wolf started shifting leaving only Axel. The small boy had a sickeningly sweet smile on his face, he knelt in front of the man, resting his hand in his chest.

"Don't worry, I've done this before. You won't feel a thing." Before the man could question him, Axel slowly pushed his hand into his chest, he yelled in pain. Axel watched in delight as blood poured from the man's chest as he ripped his heart out. 

He slumped against the wall lifeless as Axel threw him and his heart aside. 

The music continued, adding a strange sense of manic satisfaction coursing through his body, until he looked around the diner at his handy work. The blood and guts spread throughout the once adorable diner made him sick. Axel dropped to his knees in a pool of blood.

Satisfaction turned into disgust and it took him a while to realise he wasn't disgusted by his actions, he was divided by the fact he ruined his favourite t-shirt. Pepper had given it to him for him birthday and now it was covered in blood.

Enzo sputtered in disbelief, "I actually thought you felt bad for doing all this but you only feel bad about ruining your fucking shirt. And you call me dramatic? We could but thousands of those shirts."

"It's not the fucking shirt, it's the thought that went into the gift. She didn't have to get me anything, but she did, that's why it's my favourite and now cause of these assholes, it's ruined." 

Soft music played in the background and Axel sang along, "Smile, though your heart is breaking,"

"Hey, idiot. Maybe we should leave instead of playing sing along. Someone could come here my second."

Axel groaned at Enzo in annoyance, "Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? I was trying to enjoy this masterpiece." He stood up and made his way outside toward his jeep, pulling the keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the jeep and took his blanket from the backseat, spreading over the driver's seat so blood wouldn't get on it.

Something far off caught his attention, it looked like multiple vehicles coming toward his position, prompting him to move faster to get the he'll out of there. He quickly pulled out of the car park and sped off.


	10. Chapter 10

"Can you please come from under the table? I promise I'm not gonna hurt you." Tony pleaded with the broken man hiding under his desk. 

This was supposed to be simple, easy. After finding the mother load on HYDRA, Tony set out to destroy them and he did, most of the bases were gone and the Nazis were dealt with. He spent weeks researching and writing through their records discovering something called SHIELD and their plans to take over.

Then he found the bunker in Siberia. It was mostly empty, a handful of agents just watching over the base and guarding something. He took out the agents quickly and hacked their systems, and Jarvis gathered the data. Tony set the bunker to explode and flew off.

He got the surprise of his life when he went through the data later that night in his workshop. He went through a range of emotions, the most common being confusion and anger. Tony almost wished he didn't send Axel away two weeks ago, if he hadn't, he could probably have someone who made better decisions to tell him what to do. He could call Pepper or Rhodey or even Happy, he just needed someone to tell him what to do.

But Tony didn't want any of them involved, if something happened to any of them he didn't know what he would do. Although he knew Axel couldn't die, seeing him dead again would mess him up far worse than the first time, which is why he sent him away.

As a result, this is how he ended up with a confused, terrified and harmless, Winter Soldier hiding under his desk. The soldier had woken up in his workshop, disoriented and as soon as he saw Tony standing at the bottom of the bed, he scrambled away, hiding in the darkest part of the room that he could fit in.

Tony felt bad, given that he had set out, in his mind to kill the soldier who killed his parents, but seeing him now, he was clearly just a tool, a weapon HYDRA used and set aside when they were finished and now he just wanted to help him, but it was going to be hard since the man wouldn't even get out from under the desk.

"Come on help me out a little here. I swear I'm not going to hurt you, I want to help you."

"Maybe, I don't know, he doesn't speak English." Tony made a noise that he was not proud of and would deny he made it to his grave. He spun around and saw Axel standing in the doorway. No, Enzo, this was Enzo since he was wearing all black and no crocs. That was the only way to tell them apart, by their clothing, Axel dressed like a homeless lunatic and Enzo dressed like a goth's wet dream.

"Aren't you supposed to be in New Orleans?"

"Brenna tried to kill us permanently, so we got out of there. As I was saying, Jarvis told me about the cyborg man, maybe he's in like, factory reset mode and can only speak Russian or something."

"Huh, that actually makes sense. Do you speak Russian?"

Enzo moved closer to the desk, "A little, I'll give it a try." He sat on the ground to get a look at him and he couldn't help but coo. "Are you sure he's an assassin, he is the most adorable person I have ever seen, is that why he's so successful, his victims look at him and just let him murder them, cause I would. God, his eyes remind me of a baby, he looks so innocent."

Tony rolled his eyes at his rant, "Lorenzo, please get on with it."

"Fine. 'Hello, I'm Lorenzo and that's my dad Tony. Do you know your name?'"

The soldier shook his head frantically.

Enzo nodded in understanding, "'That's okay kitten. Do you know where you are?'"

He shook his head again.

"'You are in my dad's workshop, in Malibu. He helped you get away from the bad men and now he's trying to help you. Do you remember anything?'"

The soldier went blank for a couple seconds, and shook his head again. He started breathing heavily in a panic and Enzo crawled closer.

"'Okay, it's okay. We are in a safe place, where no one can hurt you.'" That didn't seen to calm him down at all and he started panicking even more. Enzo also started panicking because he didn't know what to do in this situation, this wasn't something he had to do. In that moment he could feel Axel pushing through and he let him.

"'Can I touch you? Is that okay?'" They soldier nodded and Axel inches his hands toward his head and ran his finger gently through his hair, "'It's okay, you don't have to remember anything now, eventually it will come back. Are you hungry?'"

"'Yes.'"

"'We have to come from under here, can you do that kitten? Can you come out? No one's gonna hurt you here, this house is a safe space.'" 

Axel rest his hands on the soldier's and guided him from under the table.

****

"Is this why you sent us away? Cause of your knew house guest?" Enzo was fixing the soldier a sandwich while said soldier was curled up on the couch, spaced out and Tony was in the kitchen with him, drinking a cup of coffee.

"I didn't know about him till a week ago, I sent you away for the same reason I made Pep go on vacation, to keep you safe."

Enzo raised an eyebrow, "You do realise I can't die right?"

"Course I know, if I can avoid you going through that again, I will." 

Enzo finished the sandwich, "And I love you for it, but next time just tell me." He carried the tray with the sandwich and a glass of water to the soldier, resting it gently on the coffee table in front of him.

"'I think my name is James.'"

"'Nice name, time to eat, James.'"


	11. Chapter 11

"Please James, please don't do this." Axel pleaded, but James just shook his head, eyes blank of emotion.

"I'm sorry, but I have to." 

"I thought we were friends, we've been hanging out for weeks. I let you use my special hair gel, James. You can't, this will destroy me." He felt utterly betrayed. How could James do this? After everything they went through together? The nightmares, the memory flashes. Axel just couldn't believe he was going to do this.

"You are a great friend, but I have to," James smacked a card on the kitchen counter where they were, "draw four, Uno!" James wore a shit eating from on his face.

"God dammit!" Axel snarled. "You said you've never played this game before, I'm starting to think you lied to me, James."

"I guess I'm just that good."

"Liar."

"Yes, in between torture and cryo, HYDRA taught me how to play Uno." James bat his eyelashes at Axel and pouted.

"You're looking for empathy from an apathetic bitch, you have a better chance meeting God at a metal concert." Axel took a snicker doodle from the cookie jar. "Cookie?" 

James took it and ate while Axel shuffled the cards to play again. "I had a dream about Steve, but, he was, uh, much smaller than the pictures you guys showed me. He was getting beat up and I remember being really annoyed about it, like it was a regular thing." 

Axel started dealing the cards, "Maybe it was, from what I read, Steve was a pain in the ass, and not even the nice kind. He seemed like one of those people who could never walk away from a fight. A little like Enzo."

"Lorenzo is so much worse, Axel, you can't deny that." Tony walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee maker, "You remember that time Enzo almost put a kid in a coma cause he called you a fairy, or the time someone called him short and he broke the guys leg. Didn't he get arrested for assault last year?" Tony rattled on, listing the things Lorenzo got in trouble for because of his temper.

"Alright, I get it, but you can't blame him, most of those things were provoked and he has a condition." 

"I still don't understand, how come Lorenzo has IED and you don't?" James asked.

"No clue. The doctor explained it but I wasn't exactly listening, it the same way he can paint like Picasso and I can only draw stuck figures. I write, he paints, that's how it is."

Tony finished his second cup of coffee and pointed at Axel, "Young man, aren't you supposed to be on a plane right now?"

"Why exactly do I have to go to college? My trust fund alone could take care of my grandkids." 

"Yes it could, but you started it, now you have to finish it. You have one year left, not that long, you're on a scholarship and if you don't go you'll never get to see Wade, I don't think I can take any more of you mooning over him."

Axel gaped at him, "I do not moon."

James raised his eyebrow , "I've heard you talking about him at least six times in the few weeks I've been here. Don't you have his number or something?"

"I forgot to ask." Axel huffed, "Fine, I'll go get ready."

****

Axel came down half an hour later dressed in a green an white stripes three piece suit, with knee high miss matched patterned socks over the pants and red loafers, his thick curly black hair was wrapped up in a wild ponytail and he was dragging a large pastel blue suitcase behind him.

"I'm ready, someone has to drive me, there is no way I'm leaving my car at that place."

James gave him a bewildered look and Tony pat him in the shoulder, "You'll get used to it, eventually."


	12. Chapter 12

Breaking into the ice rink in the middle of the night while one person was high and the other was tipsy sounded like a horrible idea, neither of them were in the right mind set to skate right now, but neither Lorenzo or Wade have a shit. Lorenzo picked the lock while Wade stood watch, both giggling like idiots when the door finally opened. 

They were both at the bar Lorenzo trying out the "New and Improved" product he bought from Weasel, and Wade sat at the bar downing tequila shots like it was water. One minute they were just sat there talking and then the next they were planning a break in. Weasel tried to stop them and by tried he just told them not to do it once and then shook his head, saying something about "crazy kids". 

They got the skates on after fumbling with them for a while and stumbled into the ice. Wade looked like a baby deer learning how to walk and Enzo wasn't much worse, usually he was very good at ice skating but as of right now, all he could do was taste his thoughts and hear colours. Enzo skated in circles around Wade who had just given up and lay on the cold icy surface.

"Come on Wilson, this is no fun with you on the ground. Get up, Wilson."

Enzo continued to skate circles around the man as he lay there looking at him, calculating his next move. Enzo was helpless when Wade kicked out his leg and tripped him, sending him crashing into the ice. Enzo let out a pained groan and light heartedly punched Wade in the arm.

"You ass, I could have died." Enzo crawled closer to the man and lay down on his side to face him.

Wade turned to face Enzo and booped his nose, "Quit being dramatic. No way you could have died, I would not allow it." 

They lay there in a comfortable silence and Wade started to doze off a little, but screeched when he felt a freezing hand touch the side of his neck and curled in on himself. He quickly sat up to wipe his neck, beside him he could hear Lorenzo giggling and shuffling away.

"You are so dead." Enzo got up and skated away laughing hysterically as Wade tried to get up but kept slipping. "I'm gonna get you, in about twenty minutes."

Lorenzo kept laughing, "That's payback for almost killing me to death."

"I would never unalive you sweet thing. I would never be able to see your bubbly ass ever again." 

"Is that all I am to you? A sweet thing with a bubbly butt? My heart has been broken, I shall never love again." Lorenzo stopped taking and dropped to the floor hold his head dramatically. "I twas a walking twat, to think otherwise." 

He promptly burst out into a fit of giggles, which distracted him from seeing the merc sneakily crawl toward him. "I'm so high right now." 

Enzo squealed when he felt a cold hand go up his shirt and rest on his stomach, "Payback's a bitch ain't it?" Wade hovered over him and drunkenly tickled him until he was writhing around and laughing.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Let's call a truce."

Wade stopped and stayed there, hovering, his body slotted in between Enzo's legs. Lorenzo looked up at him in a daze. "I really wanna kiss you."

"I also really wanna kiss you."

"I'm glad we're in agreement, consent is sexy and all that." Wade ran A finger lightly over Enzo's lips.

A smile creeped up on Enzo's face, "I couldn't agree more, why don't you come down here so we can get our smooch on." Wade rolled his eyes and lowered himself to kiss Enzo.

Enzo's arms snaked around Wade's neck as their lips met. There were no sparks or whatever bullshit as writers like to say, no magical moment, but Wade's lips were warm and soft and sweet. He tasted like the tequila he drank before they got there, and Enzo was sure he tasted very earthy.

As they deepened the kiss, Wade ran his hands up and down Enzo's legs, inching closer and closer under his skirt. Wade stopped and pulled away suddenly after feeling something. "Are you wearing panties?"

"Of course I am, boxers or briefs would look absolutely tacky with this skirt. Do I look. ..." Wade cut him off him rant with his lips, Enzo wrapped his legs around Wade's waist and ran his hands up his t-shirt. They continued making out on the ice, running their hands all over each other and pulling each other's hair, until Wade pulled away again when he felt Enzo's chest.

"Are your nipples pierced?"

Enzo groaned in annoyance, "Yes, and if you pull away again you're never going to find the other piercings and surprises I have all over my body." Enzo pushed up and latched his lips him to Wade's neck, leaving a trail of bruises and he let out a filthy moan.

"What surprises?" 

Lorenzo groaned and flipped them so Wade was in the bottom and straddled his hips, working his way down Wade's neck. Wade inched his hands up Enzo's skirt and have his ass a squeeze. Enzo moaned and let out a breathy, "Fuck." 

Wade captured Enzo's lips with his again and continued playing with his ass, bringing his hips up as he ground into him and rubbed their hard cocks against each other. They both let out loud moans and Enzo's back arched. 

Wade parted his ass cheeks to get better access and slid his hand under the panties to rub Enzo's hole. The boy pushed his ass back on Wade's finger and bit his lips so hard they almost bled.

Suddenly, the large metal doors slammed open and they jumped apart. "Hey, you two are not supposed to be in here." It was a guard and he was almost running down to the ice, while Wade and Enzo kicked of their skates and ran the other way, with a lot of difficulty and retrieved their things they left on the side.

When they made it outside they ran barefoot holding their shoes and Enzo's bag for a few more blocks and stopped in an alley to take a breather. Enzo fixed his skirt and slipped on his combat boots, while Wade did the same. Enzo adjusted his bag straps and strung it on his back with a lot of complications since they were still very buzzed.

"Your hair is a mess." Wade stated proudly. Enzo felt his head and Wade was right, most of his hair was out of the bun and some was sticking up. He pulled out the elastic band and let his hair fall down his back and he straightened it out. Wade suddenly got very quiet and Enzo looked at him to find the man gawking at him.

"What?"

"Never ever put your hair up again. Just... Wow. I mean. ... Wow, holy shit." Wade rambled on in awe.

Enzo blushed and he almost wished Axel hadn't fucked off so he could tell him what the hell to say to that. "It's not that great."

Wade scoffed and slowly ran his hand through the thick, soft curls, "You look beautiful, so hot. If I wasn't so tired, I would finish what we started back there."

He buried his face in Wade's chest so the man couldn't see now need his cheeks were. "Can we just go?"


	13. Chapter 13

"And cut! Everyone take five and then back to your places." The director yelled through the mega phone.

Axel was sat in his chair on the far side of the movie set he was working on for the summer, absolutely regretting everything. When his dad told him he talked to an up and coming director who was looking for a writer and got him a job, Axel was excited, finally getting to work on a movie instead of his cringey high school plays.

But, this movie fucking sucked, he wrote maybe forty percent of the script, the director clearly had no fucking clue what he was doing and the actors were even worst. Everyone on this set was a newbie to the film industry, it was very obvious. He had seen far more experience from newbie actors in the open industry than here. Axel was probably the only one there who had any kind of clue what was supposed to be going on. But the director was a cock, and thought he was the best thing to happen since ice cream.

Axel was so close to punching the shit out of him and it looked like today he would do it. They were already so wound up by Wade and his stupid ass. After dating for two and a half years you would think Axel would be used to his boyfriend's dumbass, but he wasn't. Wade got shot in his chest two weeks ago on the job and almost died, and today Wade wanted to get back to work. 

He was still hurt, he still winced every time he breathed and laughed, but he wanted to get back to work. They had an argument about it and it was bad, probably the worst they've ever had and it led to Axel kneeing him in his manly bits.

The twenty two year old tapped his leg in annoyance, he had blocked out the shitty movie being made and just thought of twenty different ways to kill his boyfriend. He watched the morons move around and grab snacks from the snack table. Snacks would be a stretch, the most junk food thing they had on the table was granola bars and Axel had forgotten to bring his bag of emergency snacks.

He was almost relieved when his phone rang, "Help me."

Winter's voice rang through the other end, "What's wrong? Is it really that bad?"

Axel sighed in utter annoyance, "I have never had the urge to murder someone so violently after knowing them for three days. This movie is going to be the worst thing ever, I've written pornos that would win any award before this movie." 

Winter chuckled from the other end, "You poor thing. Lucky for you I'm coming to New York tomorrow, Tony wants help with moving into the tower."

"Thank god. If this little racist punk threatens to deport me again, I'm gonna cut of his fingers and feed them to his mother. The nerve he has, he thinks just because he went to Julliard and graduated with a perfect grade that he's the shit, but I'm gonna shit in his fucking face after I stab him three hundred and thirty two times."

"That is oddly specific, how long have you been thinking about this?"

"Three days. I forgot his name on purpose and only speak Spanish whenever he asks me something just to be petty. He's the shit stain that needs to be scrubbed out of people's undies. I swear I'm gonna punch him."

"Anyway, are you home tonight?" James changed the subject after hearing that he knew it would only get worse. 

"No, I have a ticket to go to the ballet. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking I should drop by earlier and we could get pizza and play cards again, I learned how to play poker and I'm ready to beat you this time, hopefully." 

"Well, I'm home tomorrow cause I'm gonna be fired today, so we could do it tomorrow." Axel watched as the director walked over to him with a scowl on his face.

"You seem sure."

"Yep, today's the day that's gonna be the best day of my life." The director, Axel didn't even bother learning his name, stopped right in front of him, "Have a great day James, I have a cunt to punch." 

"So, you do speak English. I need you to scrub my toilet, the cleaner quit this morning. And I figured your kind are used to doing this so, why not ask you." 

Axel struggled to keep Enzo from surfacing, as he sat back in his seat he looked shithead in his eyes, "I don't know what you mean by my kind, cause I'm from California, I've never set foot in Mexico as you've said countless times and I'm only one third Columbian, so you can't be talking to me."

Shithead scoffed, "As if I'd ever believe you Alma. Now clean my toilet or I'll have you deported." 

Axel snorted, "What even gave you the thought I could be here illegally, my tongue ring costs more than you fucking car, this jacket alone could buy three hundred of those God awful khaki things you put on everyday. If I wanted into a country, I could get in easily." 

"Please, those are probably stolen. Why don't you do your job, I'm not paying you here to sit down and do nothing."

Axel looked Shithead up and down, "This is a volunteer gig, moron." 

Shithead was getting mad now, he kept clenching his fist and he was turning red, "Do you know who my parents are? I will have you buried, you wouldn't get another job for the rest of your miserable life. How are you and your thirty cousins supposed to eat?" 

"My parents were only children." Axel told him cheekily to rile him up even more. And it worked, Shithead grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up out of his chair, Axel had a shit eating grin on his face, "Ooh, someone's getting cranky. Do you want a juice box?" 

"Shut up you piece of shit."

Everyone in the studio was watching them, the room went quiet and the only thing they could hear was the argument.

"It's sad, all this attention and one would think you're secretly in love with me or something. Is that what you want, you want me to bend over and spread em on your desk, don't you? But you can't, cause mommy and daddy would cut you off. How sad would they be? Oh my gosh our son's a fairy." Axel teased and teased and Shithead clutched the jacket tighter and his face got redder.

"Shut up or I'm gonna punch the shit out of you. You think I'm some fag like you?"

"You know what they say, it takes one to know one." That seemed to be the last straw for Shithead as he dropped Axel in the chair and punched him in the face.

Axel held his face in mock pain, "You even punch like a little pillow princess. Maybe you want me to bend you over the desk. I've never done that before but, we could try."

Axel got another punch in the face and he rocked back in the chair giggling like a maniac, his nose was starting to bleed, but he simply wiped it off with his finger and licked it seductively. Shithead punched him again and again until he was on the floor and his face covered in blood. He lay there and Shithead stood over him, giving the usual bad guy monologue, "I didn't want to have to do this but".

Axel whispered something under his breath and Shithead knelt down to get closer, so he could hear what he thought were pleas to stop. He put his ear right next to Axel's mouth, which was a terrible idea in the first place, because the first chance he got, Axel latched onto his ear with his teeth and bit down hard. Shithead screamed in pain, and Axel savagely ripped a piece of his ear off in his mouth. Shithead pulled away clutching his ear in pain, he looked on in horror as Axel chewed up his ear with blood running down his mouth.

Axel laughed maniacally and spat it out, "Now you know not to fuck with me!" Axel grabbed his things and left the studio, "By the way I quit and your movie fucking sucks ass. I've seen better plots in porn." 

 

************************

 

Enzo went to the ballet, most nights were his time in the surface and he liked to spend them like this, watching shows and dressing up in fancy clothes. He was supposed to go with Wade, but Wade was being an ass again so he went by himself. 

In a long black coat with golden embroidery, black close fitting pants with a gold line down the side, a black inside shirt and black platform Doc Martens. His hair was shaved in a buzz cut and bleached platinum blonde, to piss off Wade since he liked his long hair so much. His horn rimmed glasses were perched on his nose, all four of his face piercings were in and he wore six clunky gold rings on his fingers.

"This is a bit much, even for you." Axel whispered in the back of his head. 

"I have to distract them from the bruises on my face since you didn't fight back with Shithead. We only had so much concealer." 

People were giving him looks as usual, all these old rich white people with their faces that can barely move and their twelve year old girlfriends, can't handle the fact that the exotic man looks richer than them all and he's younger than half their age. He saw a woman roll her eyes when her husband checked him out and Enzo couldn't help the smirk that came on his face.

The ballet was over, everyone was in their peer groups chatting and Enzo was making a quick get away, before anyone recognised him. But as usual nothing went his way.

"Little Stark is that you?" Enzo groaned internally and looked at the person who talked. It was his old ballet teacher, Mrs. Brown, his face lit up.

"Hi, I haven't seen you in like seven years. How are you?" He went on to hug the woman and she squeezed the life out of him.

"I'm good. No longer Mrs, caught Jerry with his best friend two years ago and I've been happy ever since." 

Enzo chuckled, "I remember telling you he was bad news. Do you still have the school?" 

"Yes, and you are welcomed to drop by anytime, give my students a lesson or two. You were always my best student."

Enzo smiled, "You flatter me."

"Emily!" Ms. Brown turned at the voice, who was a very handsome man.

"Oh, is he your date? You really upgraded from Jerry." Ms. Brown blushed a little and smacked his arm lightly.

"Stop it you. I have to go, we'll catch up later. Bye Little Stark."

 

****************************************

 

Enzo made it to his building and found three cop cars outside waiting for something or someone. He made it to the gate when he heard that annoying voice.

"That's him right there officer, that's the guy that bit my ear." 

Enzo chuckled under his breath, "We probably should have just put this little twat out of his misery."

"There were people everywhere, what the hell was I supposed to do?" Axel argued.

One of the officers pulled out his handcuffs, "Excuse me sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to put your hands where I can see them."

Enzo kept his hands in his pockets, "Why?"

The officer looked kind of shocked when he asked that,"Because I have to arrest you, this young man claims you assaulted him."

Enzo shrugged, "He hit me first, I think that counts as self defence." Enzo looked over his shoulder, "I gonna go now, sorry for wasting your time."

"Hey! You are under arrest. Stay right where you are and put your hands where I can see them." The officer yelled the other two hand their hands on their weapons and Shithead was behind them.

Enzo tilted his head and walked towards them, "But I don't want to." 

"Listen faggot, I don't give a shit what you want, get your hands where I can see them or I'm gonna shoot." He drew his weapon and so did the other two.

"Hey Buddy, I can feel you getting angry. We worked on this, just do what they say and we can have our way later. Come on, you getting angry doesn't do any good. I know you don't like that word but you have to calm down." Axel sounded worried.

Enzo ignored every single word Axel told him, "I hate that word."

"You got five seconds," He stated, Enzo kept staring at him daring him to pull the trigger, " 5...4...3...2...1. "

Six gunshots rang through the silence of the night and pierced Enzo's chest making him explode in anger. Their body pushed the bullets out and the cops stared on in horror. Enzo's entire body got hot, insanely hot and smoke came from his ears, nose and mouth. The cops were confused by this and started to back away slowly.

Enzo was angry, so fucking angry. He's been arguing constantly with the love of his life for a week and he kept being an ass, he had to deal with that racist asshole for three days and he hadn't had an episode in weeks, keeping all of that bottled up anger was making his skin burn. 

The smoke turned to fire and suddenly his entire body was covered in it burning away all his clothes much to Axel's horror - that was his favourite coat. He let out a roar that woke up some of the neighbours. 

Enzo sounded like a beast. 

The cops tried to run but Enzo let out a firey breath, like he was a dragon, and burned them alive, Shithead included. When the dust settled and he started to cool off, he realised he was floating at least three feet off the ground.

Everything about that was so new to them, they thought it was only the hell hound and only Axel got something out of the sacrifice, but Axel usually surfaces whenever Enzo had an episode, which was probably what just happened. Enzo stood there bewildered and staring at the ashes of the idiots, "Holy shit! Holy fuck!"

"Yeah, I get it this is really crazy not stuff but people are looking, we need to get out of here." Axel reminded him.

No one has seen him yet, just the rubble so Enzo got rid of the flames and soot covered his naked body, he used the darkness to hide him and he ran inside to his home where he hoped Wade would be resting his injured ass.


	14. Chapter 14

Lorenzo got back to his loft and ran straight in the shower to wash off the ashes. After scrubbing his skin, he wrapped himself up in his bath robe and went for the kitchen for the left over pizza in the fridge. He only realised that Wade wasn't home when he sat down on their couch, Enzo sighed and rest his head in the back of the couch.

It wasn't until midnight, that Wade came stumbling in with his arms filled with boxes, Enzo who had been sleeping with cold pizza in his hand, jumped awake. He was in a daze and accidentally lot the pizza on fire. 

Wade struggled carrying the boxes inside, since his right arm was in a vast and he had four small boxes, Enzo snapped out of his dazed state and watched him continue struggling to put them on their kitchen counter.

"You're home early." Enzo announced sarcastically. He was lounging in the dark, in his short fluffy bath robe.

Wade, who was very familiar with Lorenzo's preference to dark places especially sitting in dark rooms to give people heart conditions, simply shrugged, "I had to get a few things, I was at the bar all night until Weasel kicked me out. He gave me some of his special brownies for you and I brought you pizza, ham and cheese. Also there's this donut shop a couple blocks away, they had all these really exotic donuts and other pastries that I got." Wade stopped to breath, and pulled out a long box with a bow on it, "I know you're gonna love this one."

Lorenzo was perplexed at first but the moment Wade took the hookah out of the box, a wide grin formed on his face, it was rainbow coloured and he loved it. "This is the second best thing you've ever given me." He paused and realisation dawned on him, "Wade Winston Wilson, are your trying to bribe me, cause it's not working Mr, I'm still mad at you." 

Wade dropped his head and groaned, he threw his hands up and surrendered, "Fine, yes, I'm trying to bribe you. I'm sorry."

"'S the first time you've said that since this whole thing started." Enzo played with Wade's sleeve and sighed, "I'm not trying to be an asshole, I know you like what you do, ridding the world of scumbags and all that, but I have always been really worried about you, I've been worried my whole life really, my dad tends to be insanely reckless all the time and I'm surprised he isn't dead yet. But when Weasel called me that night and I saw you bleeding out, I thought that all my nightmares had come through, I thought I lost you and I don't know what I would've done, you're one of the only people in this shit show I can actually stand."

Wade caressed his face and ran his thumbs along his jaw line, "This is probably the most mature conversation we've ever had."

"I know right, we should get it out so we can go back to being irresponsible. I'm starting to itch a little." 

"Agreed. Okay, I understand what you're saying, I've seen the shit you deal with all the time and I don't know how you do it, I worry about you every time you leave the loft. This one time I followed you for real, and just let me say this, I am very uncomfortable with the number of people checking you out."

Enzo scoffed, "I can't exactly do anything about perverts, honey pot."

"I'm also sorry for taking the job yesterday, I miscalculated how easy it was going to be, which is why I got my hand broken and made you mad at me." Enzo raised his eyebrow , "I am also sorry for yelling at Axel, that was not cool. And I'm sorry I wasn't there to kick Shithead's ass when he gave you that shiner, I swear I'm gonna kill him."

Enzo turned away from Wade and picked up a chocolate donut, "Wow this is so tasty."

Wade eyed him in suspicion, "What did you do? Did you clean up the crime scene? I don't want my little psycho in prison." He squeezed Enzo's cheek and said man slapped his hand away.

"It was an accident, and the crime scene blew away with the rest of the ashes. Also, I discovered something today."

"What's that?"

Enzo lit his hand on fire and waved it in front of Wade's face, Wade looked shocked and went to touch it, but Enzo pulled back, "Are you crazy, this is fire. I saw first hand that it's so hot, Shithead turned into ash almost immediately, he's probably still outside blowing around in the wind."

"That's what that smell was." Enzo continued eating his donut and not looking him in the eye, "What else did you do?"

"What had happened was, earlier, I sort of bit his ear off on set and he called the cops and they were here to, and they sort of pissed me off to and I had a tiny episode and Axel couldn't come out to stop me. So they may have been caught in the cross fire, literally."

Enzo lit on his best smile but Wade was not having it, "You killed cops? They're gonna send somebody else to see what happened. Maybe someone worse, like the FBI , or SHIELD. We can't have any cops snooping around, most of the people you rent to are criminals."

"Stop it, no one's gonna find anything, they're all ashes right now, blowing around in the wind and no one saw anything. There aren't any cameras around here, since we got them all disabled, cause of our tenants. We just deny everything and hope for the best."

"I hope you're right, my little psycho. You know I love you right, both of you."

"We know." Enzo went on his tip toes and kissed Wade on the lips, Wade bent the rest of the distance since he only reached his chin, and lifted him up with his left arm, making Enzo wrap his legs around his waist, he walked them to the couch and peeled off Enzo's bath robe.

Enzo pulled away breathlessly, "What about the food? I was really looking forward to hearing those brownies Weasel made." 

"This is only gonna take five minutes." Wade dived back in and attached his lips to Enzo's mouth pushing the younger mans legs to his chest.


	15. Chapter 15

Axel exited his apartment building the following morning texting James, when two women, dressed in pants suits, spotted him and headed towards him. By the looks of it, they were probably police or something. One was a red head and the other had raven black hair. Axel stopped walking when they called his name and pushed his phone in his pants pocket.

"Mr. Alma? Lorenzo Alma?" 

"Yes?" He asked cautiously , "Can I help you with something?"

The raven headed one talked first, "I am detective Garcia and this is my partner detective McCall, we're here about three missing cops and a witness. They came here last night to detain you and haven't been seen since, can you tell us your whereabouts last night."

Axel adjusted the bag on his back, "Yes, I attended the ballet last night, got home around ten thirty, I didn't see any police here. Why was I supposed to be detained?"

McCall spoke up, "Gregory Robinson filed a report saying you attacked him and bit off part of his ear."

Axel frowned at the moment he had never met anyone by that name in his life, "Who?"

"The director of the film you were writing until you quit yesterday?" Garcia looked at him like he had two heads.

Axel snapped his fingers, "Shithead. I hate that guy, he was a racist asshole. Can you believe he asked me to clean his bathroom because it's the only thing my people can do? And then, he punched me in the face, repeatedly. If anything I should be the one pressing charges. Do you see my face? It's gonna take forever until these things heal." 

"So, you're saying he assaulted you?" Axel nodded, "We have several eye witnessed stating you taunted him until he hit you and then you bit off his ear."

"I didn't taunt anyone, but did I bite his ear off? Yes. He messed up my face, so I gave him a little fuck you gift."

"Do you have any idea where we could find him?"

"I didn't even know his name until you just told me, I doubt you're gonna find him. Am I under arrest detectives?"

"Without Gregory's official statement, we can't detain you."

Axel nodded, "Well, I have places to be. Good luck finding the ass."

As Axel walked away, they both watched him and came to a mutual agreement that he was hiding something. "He's crazy, did you see what he was wearing? What kind of sick person under sixty wears socks and sandals? We gotta get the chief to let us watch him."

Garcia nodded, "Agreed. And did you hear when he said, was, he clearly knows something."

********

Axel came to the realisation that he was being followed the day after he talked those cop ladies. There was a black police issued car everywhere he went. He didn't give a shit about them as long as they didn't interfere with anything he was cool with it, he didn't have anything to hide anyway.e

"You have a ton of shit to hide, you ass." 

Axel rolled his eyes at Enzo's input, "You know what I mean you idiot."

His phone went off and he fished it out of his pocket to see a text from an unknown person. He opened it and read, "I know who you are and what you did, but do they?"

Axel scoffed, "Look at that, some asshole's trying to blackmail us." 

Another text came, "I know what you did to those agents in the diner." Pictures popped up with the guys ripped to shreds.

Axel studied it, "Huh. Do they really think they could scare me? I got sacrificed by my grandma, some little nerd isn't gonna scare me."

Another text came through, "One million dollars to keep my mouth shut, Stark."

Axel snorted, "This person is clearly stupid. They know I'm loaded and only ask for one million, amateur. They have no ambition or common sense."

"Are we gonna pay them?" 

"Hell no." Another text with a time and place, "Besides, we gotta get rid of the cops first." 

Axel slipped his shades onto his face and stepped out of the diner. He made eye contact with one of the detectives and waved. They looked very angry after being spotted, their eyes cut to the ice cream van sitting in front of them, and spoke into the radio. He realised the ice cream van didn't have any ice cream.

Two other texts came in, it was the usual, come alone, anything happens to me and the video gets released. People are so fucking unoriginal sometimes.  
9:00 pm at some abandoned building. 

"The person who took this video is such a fucking idiot. You can't even see our face, is this some kind of set up the cops arranged?"

"Doubt it. They don't know my real name. No one has seen me as Axel Stark since I was thirteen." 

"Aren't you at least a bit curious as to who it is? I think we should go, check it out. Maybe things will get bloody, I know how much you love that, we haven't had that in such a long time."

Axel smirked, "Are we gonna tell Wade?"

"Hell no."

*******

Axel had to sneak out the back so the cops couldn't see him when he left, Wade was at the bar doing who knows what. He maybe had two hours tops to get there and get back, the place was only five minutes away from him. Axel dressed in black leather pants, combat boots and Henley, probably the most normal thing he has ever worn in his entire life. A mask covering his face, in case of cameras, black leather gloves covering his hands and an axe dragging along behind him.

He got there two minutes before nine and lurked around in the dark corners to spy on who ever it was. Someone came in after him, a chubby guy, he looked dirty and dishevelled.

"Do we know this idiot?"

Axel shook his head, "No we do not."

"Hello? Axel?" Axel watched him, he looked jittery, the guy was sweating so much it was ridiculous. "I don't think he's here."

Two more guys with guns stepped inside, "Of course he is. Spread out and find him."

"I think we should have brought back up, this guy killed seven agents with his bare hands." 

"He's a little brat, we can handle it."

"Rumlow was my friend to but this is stupid, we are gonna get killed."

Axel followed them around silently, listening to every word they said. He didn't know who this Rumlow person was but it had to be the diner thing after his grandma murdered him. Those guys were fucking pigs.

He dragged the axe to create a creepy background noise to freak them out, he was at least ten feet away, hidden in the shadows. The sound of the heavy metal dragging against the concrete floor made the men freeze. Axel just watched them in the shadows and watched them turn the safety off their guns and point at where the sound was coming from.

One of them shot the wall five feet away from his head, Axel stopped, the guys took a breath until Axel decided to walk out of the shadows and tilt his head. The 'sad clown' mask he was wearing made him look far more menacing than he had ever looked. 

"Chunky knows what he's talking about." His voice was muffled behind the mask, giving it a sinister undertone. He stepped back in the shadows when one of the gun men shot at him, missing him by a hair. They emptied the clip in the wall while Axel kept circling, amusement swimming in his eyes.

"You should stop wasting your bullets. Didn't do Rumlow any good, he tasted fairly good for a nazi."

The men were almost trembling by now, he liked this, after not getting any action for almost three years this sent a rush of excitement through him. It was like the feeling he had after his first kill, the feeling he got after smoking his first blunt or beating the shit out of his middle school bully. 

Axel stepped out into the light only to be shot in his chest, he felt the wound closing and saw the gun man dropped dead from the wound that ripped itself in his chest. This left the last gun man and the chubby dude. He tightened his hold on the axe and lifted it with both hands and stalked toward them both with his head tilted mockingly.

***********

When Wade got home from Sister Margaret's, he looked forward to finish that reality show he and Axel had been binging for the past three days. He was tired and just wanted to naked cuddle on the couch with Axel or Enzo, which ever one felt like coming out tonight. He didn't really care.

What he didn't expect, was to find a car on fire in front of his building with two corpses in it and an old ice cream van with bloody hand prints on it. A guy was laid out at the back of the van and his head was five feet away from him. Another guy was halfway out of the windshield with half of his face gone.

He could hear the sirens in the distance, so he ignored it and went inside the building, climbing the stairs to the top floor where the loft was. He could hear that song playing, the song that Axel loved to play when he had one of his break downs, Smile. It was his favourite, Wade didn't understand why, it always creeped him out and Enzo, but Axel loved it so they learned to bare it.

He unlocked the door, opening up to a dark room. Every light on the place was off. When he switched them on, Axel stood there in the middle of the living room, a clown mask sitting atop his head, blood splatters all over his face, he was naked and to top it off he was cradling a bloody axe. Axel wasn't doing anything, just standing there staring at a blank wall, lightly stroking the axe.

He broke the silence whispering a statement that made chills run up Wade's spine, "I did something bad."

"Have you been taking your meds?"

Axel's eyes cut to Wade, "No, they make me feel bad." Axel spaces out again and whispered , "I got rid of the cop problem." 

"Can Enzo come out please? I wanna talk to him." Wade smiled and walked over to him slowly.

Axel frowned and he held the axe tighter, "Why do you like him more than me? Is it because I don't want to have sex? Is he easier to be around? What does he have that I don't?"

Wade eyed the axe closely, "That's not what I was saying and you know that. You're not in the right mind set right now, I just need to know what happened."

Axel spaced out again, "They tried to trick me and they died for it. I came back home and the cops were just there, spying again, I couldn't help it." 

The song started over again, meaning he had it on a loop, taking a closer look Wade realised the blood on him was dry and crusted, "How long have you been standing there?"

"It was nine thirty two when I got here." 

Wade glanced at his watch, it was twelve forty, "You've been standing there for almost three and a half hours." 

Axel didn't say anything else to him, he just dropped the axe on the floor with a loud this and walked away from the wall. Wade stood there for a while trying to come to terms with what just went down, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Last time, he didn't kill anyone, but he drowned himself in the bathtub six times and cried every time he came back. Judging by what just happened he could tell Axel hadn't been taking his medication for more than a week, the little altercation last week with the director was just the start of it all.

Wade picked up the bloody axe from the floor, cleaned it and put it away. He could hear the shower running and Axel singing the song that was still on the loop. As much as he hated it, it was the only thing keeping Axel calm at the moment. He decided to give Axel space and sleep on the couch, he never liked anyone touching him in this state of mind.


	16. Chapter 16

Axel was atop the roof of Stark tower at the very top, smoking a blunt and dancing to the music he had playing on his phone. Today was one of his good days, a very rare occasions since the axe thing. After months of refusing to take his meds, he still didn't take them, making Lorenzo so angry he told Tony, and Tony being the worry wart he was made Axel move into the tower when Wade was out of the state. Tony had instructed Axel to never leave the tower until he took his meds.

He even gave Jarvis protocols, to shut down the elevator and the stair case if there weren't any emergencies. The only access to the outside he had was the roof, where he spent most of his time if he wasn't occupying his room. All Axel did these days was lay down in his bed and go to the roof. He barely ate anything, which gave Enzo the responsibility of keeping their body fed. They both lost a lot of weight but not to the point where his bones were visible.

But today was a good day, he woke up early, ate breakfast and went up to the roof top to smoke his blunt. His shirt was off and all he wore were black sweat pants and his crocs, his entire collection of odd tattoos was on display and so were his many piercings.

"This angel dust is wonderful, why haven't we tried this before, Enzo. My skin feels amazing." Axel ran his fingers over his skin slowly feeling how soft it was.

"That's because it's cocaine you fucking idiot, this is the first and last time you take that. We are not going to become crack addicts, you hear me?"

He stopped dancing and groaned, "Fine." Sitting down on the edge of the roof, Axel took in the city, so big and loud. He could hear people arguing from all the way up here, everyone down there looked like little ants, scurrying around to find their next meal and he sort of wished he was one of them. Being cooped up in the tower for a week and a half was starting to get to him, which had him contemplating if he should take his meds again or not. 

He pulled the band out of his hair, freeing his pink curly locks and ran his fingers through it. 

Just then, Axel heard a commotion on the balcony below him and he looked over to find a group of people setting something up there. He couldn't really distinguish if this was reality or he got a bad batch of pot and was seeing things. Just in case it was real, he called his dad.

"This better be important, I'm trying to make sure aliens don't come down and kill us."

"Okay, okay. So I don't know if this is real or I'm seeing things again," Axel could hear Tony scoff at him, "BUT, there are these people on the balcony setting up this weird thing and they look kind of demented. Also there's this really hot goth Prince looking dude, dressed in green, with the softest looking hair I have ever seen. If this is real I'm gonna ask him what products he uses. He also looks really sick, like if I were to hit him with a pillow he'd like, collapse and die. Do you think I should give him first aid? He tripped on his feet twice and he's sweating really bad. "

He could hear Tony yelling "Son of a bitch." There was a sound of thumping feet like someone was running and he heard his dad again, "Axel stay where you are, that's the guy we're trying to stop. Please don't do anything stupid." 

"Please, what's he gonna do, kill me?" Axel snorted.

"YES!" Tony yelled through the phone, "I gotta go, I'll be there soon. James is also on his way."

"M'kay, bye."

"We're gonna do something right? We can't just stay up here." 

"Lorenzo, your little hero complex gets us killed all the time, I really don't feel like dying today. It's the first good day I've had in two months." Axel sat down again and waited like Tony said and continued with his blunt.

"Fuck that. We have abilities and we don't ever use them, what's the point of it. We could be out there like dad, helping people." 

"In all of my twenty three years of living, the only people that ever helped me were dad and his friends and Wade and James. All those other people, that beat us and called us names because we were different can all burn and I wouldn't even give a shit. Those people that you're trying to save would never even look at us when we were in trouble, when we were all bloody in an alley or the school's parking lot, they can all go fuck themselves. I'm staying put like dad said." Axel out his headphones back on and turned up the music to block everything out.

"Okay then, don't do this for those people, do it for dad." Axel didn't budge but he did turn off the music, "Also, you get to kill aliens. We can get as bloody as you want, we can work together, your strength and that strange voodoo doll thing, my fire and flight. We would be unstoppable, no one's gonna kill us today. I promise."

A beam of light shot from the machine thing and opened a hole in the sky where things started coming out. He could see his dad coming. "We don't have anything to suit up in."

Lorenzo snorted, "We're gonna be covered in fire Axe, I don't think we need anything fancy." 

Axel watched his dad try to destroy the machine, he was still hesitant to help out. They had never done anything like this, ever. Only Tony and James knew about them. This would expose them to the world, no one would see his face which was good, but the last time he was in the spotlight, he ended up in a coma and woke up with a voice in his head and two eye colours.

"I know what you're thinking, if anything happens to us, we'll deal with it together. If we have to make blood rain from the sky, we'll deal with it together. I've got you. We can do this, we've been practising remember?" The sound of breaking glass alerted them and Axel looked over the ledge and saw Tony falling out of the window with the suit following. Axel was still hesitant,"Dad got rid of an entire organisation of Nazis in three weeks, flushed them out of SHIELD and everything, if he can do that we can go kill some aliens."

"That's cause dad is basically a god, we are a puny half dead human. Like six people tried to kill him last year, he shook it off and went back to drinking gallons coffee and working till he dropped, in two days. Someone actually killed us and we still get nightmares, I can't even take my meds cause they make me sleepy and I keep seeing Wade bleeding out on that fucking table again." 

They could see the jet coming their way, "If you work with me, I'll stop nagging you about the meds." The goth Prince shot down the jet and it spiralled, Axel didn't say anything just ran and jumped off the roof, Lorenzo could feel his mind open up and he reached forward and took control, engulfing their body with flames and flying toward the jet to catch it.

He caught it, steadied it and gently dropped it on the road. The doors opened up and out walked Captain America, James right behind him, suited up and carrying one of the biggest guns he had ever seen, that red headed lady that Axel was absolutely terrified of and another guy with a bow.

The captain frowned when he saw the stranger and asked, "Who are you?" 

James nudged him, "That's Axel, Tony's kid, he's cool." James turned to them, "I thought Tony told you to stay put."

Axel played with his fingers anxiously, "Well he did but...," Lorenzo nudged him aside, "There are fucking aliens coming out of the sky, we can talk about this later." 

Axel came back and the arrow guy and the captain were looking at him strangely after the outburst, "Uh...okay bye." He almost flew off before Captain stopped him.

"Wait! Here, take this." He passed Axel an ear piece and he stuck it in his ear. Throwing up a piece sign he ignited his body and flew away, "Create a perimeter and make sure none of them cross it, if they do turn 'em to ash."

"Yes sir."

********************

"Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." Axel was having a blast, he might have been tired, covered in alien blood and hungry but he was having the time of his life. He was blasting aliens left and right, the city may have been covered in ashes because of him, but at least they wouldn't have to clean up dead bodies so who cared.

"I'm glad you're having fun, but I'm tired we need to stop those things from getting through and we need the ones down here to die, like right now." Tony answered through the coms.

Axel groaned, "Fine. Maybe it's like that movie we watched, where if you destroyed the mothership, all the aliens just drop dead."

"That could work, but we would need someone to get up there and we would also need a really big bomb." James added.

Lorenzo had an idea, "Maybe not a bomb at all. You remember when we were testing how hot I could get, but we went so hot that the building we were in sort of melted?"

Axel got exactly what he was saying and looked up at the hole, "We could do the chest beam thing. It's both of us now, meaning we would give it a kick and you would have to put everything you got into it. We wouldn't be strong enough to fly back down."

"We just have to trust someone will catch us."

Axel had his monthly 'this might as well happen' moment and let Lorenzo take most of the control over their body. "Okay guys, we have a bomb."

"Where?" 

"I'm the bomb, literally." Lorenzo flew closer to the hole.

From far across the city, Tony almost had a heart attack when he heard those words come out of his son's mouth, "What the hell, do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know, I'm so high right now. I still think this is a hallucination, and it may be one of the best I've ever had." As he was flying upward, he came face to face with the gigantic alien worm and have it a firey punch to the face, sending it back through the hole.

"Are you serious right now? This is not one of your hallucinations, Enzo. You could get seriously hurt."

"Too late, I'm already doing it." Lorenzo lined up a shot of the beam with the ship and fired using all the energy he had left over. It overwhelmed him and he knew he wasn't going to last very long. 

"You promised that we weren't gonna die today."

Lorenzo rolled his eyes, "And we're not dying."

"It fucking feels like it, don't you think that's enough beaming, that fucking ship is probably ashes by now." Axel was right, he could see the ship breaking apart above him, "You can stop now."

"Enzo, you can stop now. It worked." Tony's voice rang through his ear and he stopped. The fire engulfing his body started to flickered and then turned into smoke. Lorenzo found it increasingly difficult to stay awake and he fought it hard, until he couldn't and dropped out of the sky.

Tony caught him and cradled the idiot in his arms, flying them toward the others. When he landed, James ran over to him and took Enzo from him to lay him on the ground. He checked him over to make sure he was unharmed and sighed in relief when he found nothing. The team formed a circle around the boy, all sporting some look of concern which quickly turned to relief when they heard the soft snore emitting from Enzo. He rolled over to his side and curled up like he usually did when he slept. 

"You have a very...interesting child man of iron." 

"You have no idea."


	17. Chapter 17

Axel got up out of bed, after staring at the wall for almost an hour, and stretched, making his bones pop. He swiped his curly pink hair out of his face and tied it in one, the boy yawned and wiped the sleep out of his eyes, slipping on his baby blue kimono and sliding his sock clad feet into his pink crocs. He made his way out of the room and straight to the kitchen, where he found two intruders sitting at the island, eating his cereal.

"Don't you two have cereal on your floor? I'm pretty sure dad stocked it full of the same shit I have." Steve and James stopped their conversation and smiled at him.

"We didn't want to leave you up here all by yourself, so we came to give you some company." James spat out that bullshit excuse he gave Axel everyday, Axel wasn't stupid he knew that his dad had alerted everyone to his condition an made them check to make sure he didn't try to jump off the roof or something. 

"So, what are you doing today?" Steve asked, he had been here since the invasion a few weeks ago. Axel liked him, he was nicer than he originally thought and he wasn't unbearable like most people. Also, he wouldn't stop asking about Tony, which made Axel very amused by the little crush the man had on his dad.

"I'm working, I have to finish the...adult movie I started writing and meet with a newbie director about some short film he's doing. Also, I have to go to the store, I need more hair dye and I ran out of shampoo last night." 

The two soldiers watched Axel rummage around the kitchen, picking up two granola bars and a glass of milk. They watched as he settled down into a chair opposite of them and started eating, both looked at each other and Steve nodded.

"Maybe, we should go with you. We have to go to the store, we could carpool and take you to your meeting." 

Axel shrugged at James' suggestion, "Whatever." He knew exactly what they were doing, but he wasn't going to argue because he could use the company, they could act as his bodyguards or something.

Steve had something else to say, he could see it in the man's face. His eyes kept dart to his face and then his breakfast choice, he probably wanted to tell him he should eat more, he's seen that look on Wade's face when he ate too little, the concern in his eyes, but he saw Steve didn't want to sound rude, so Axel decided to put him out of his misery and he took four large cookies out of the cookie jar he had in the middle of the island.

Steve still looked concerned but a little relieved after that and continued his conversation with James.

"I'm leaving at 11:30, we're meeting in Brooklyn since up here is still kind of fucked up. Since its at a diner, we can get lunch after the meeting, it shouldn't take more than ten minutes." Axel left the kitchen island going to the living room and turned on the t.v.

*******************

Axel met Steve and James in the lobby, wearing a pale pink pin stripped suit which contrasted against his tan skin making his oddly mismatched eyes pop, white sneakers, his pink hair was pinned up in a bun and he wore a black leather collar, six of his fingers wore chunky gold rings and golden snake bites in his lip. Steve was perplexed at such a bold choice for a man, showing him how times had really changed since the forties. 

James on the other hand was confused and surprised, both because this was a very normal outfit on the boy, there was no holey t-shirt, no weird writing, no mismatched colours. He was obviously very concerned.

"You look normal."

"I am aware of that horrible decision, but I need to look not crazy. There's been rumours that I had something to do with that movie director's disappearance after our little, altercation and that's bad news, as much as I love working on the porn, I would love to challenge myself and see how good I really am, and I can't do that in porn. So I look professional and hope that this guy isn't an asshole." Axel slipped his glasses on his face, he tucked his phone in his breast pocket and rest the strap of his laptop bag on his shoulder. "I'm driving."

James snatched his car keys out of his hand, "Like hell you are, last time I almost died. I'm driving, you can sit in the back seat." 

"Key word being almost, it's not like you actually died and that was years ago when I was twenty two." Axel climbed into the backseat, behind the driver's side and buckled up.

"Which was last year." James started the keep and waited for Steve to buckle in before driving off. "Where to?"

"Jenny's Diner. It's that sixties themed, pink monstrosity that sells those magical pancakes." 

James nodded, "Did you take your meds this morning?"

Axel rolled his eyes, between James, his dad and Wade, he was starting to get annoyed at this question, "Yes, I took them. I've been taking them for two weeks now. My god, you accidentally wrap one car around a pole and break your neck and everyone thinks you did it on purpose. If I was really going to kill myself I would not have hurt my precious jeep. I love that thing more than I love myself."

James grunted, "I don't know what it is with you Starks, but you would think with how much bragging both of you do, at least one of you would like yourself." 

"You're asking to much, Ducky. I love too many things to have room for myself." They parked next to the diner, both Steve and James got out first as Axel was gathering his things and James opened his door.

"Hurry up Axey, we're getting older out here waiting for you."

Axel rolled his eyes and got out of the jeep, laptop bag in hand, he pushed his glasses back on his face. The three of them walked inside and Axel spotted the director, by the ugly dad jeans and polo shirt he was sporting. "You idiots can go find a seat, I'll be over there." 

Steve and James took the booth behind Axel. The man spotted him and smiled, standing up to shake his hand. "Hi, I'm Adam, you must be Lorenzo. It's nice to meet you."

Axel put on a smile and say down in the booth, "Hi, nice to meet you to. Let's get down to business, shall we."

Adam held up his pointer finger, "One thing before we get started. Know that I don't have any problem with your sexuality. I know you've had problems in the past with assholes and I would like you to know I'm not one of them."

"I've been dealing with assholes since I was six at ballet class Adam, I'm basically immune to it." 

"Good, I just wanted to get that out of the way." Adam smiled at Axel, a genuine smile and he couldn't help but return it.

*******************

"I don't like him," Bucky hissed at Steve, "he's too nice. Also what the fuck is he wearing, those pants aged him fifty years, what self respecting person goes to a business meeting wearing jeans. And do you see how he's looking at Axel? Big googly eyes, if he tries anything I'm gonna kill him. You would think spending all that time in the closet he would know how to dress."

Steve just watched his best friend in amusement, as he kept peeping back at Adam and listened to their conversation. "Careful Buck, your gay is showing."

Bucky's head snapped towards Steve, "I wasn't trying to hide it." Bucky went back to listening in and cringed, "Oh god, he just told Axel how beautiful he thought he looked, that is unprofessional. Axel sounds so uncomfortable, I think we should get him out of here."

Steve rolled his eyes from behind the menu, "Buck, Axel can handle himself, a few weeks ago he helped us get rid of aliens, I think he can handle a creepy director." 

The waitress walked over and Steve ordered a burger and fries for both of them while Bucky continued to listen. He ate, watching Bucky express so many variations of disgust and annoyance on his face, it was impressive to say the least, Steve counted seven so far in the last forty seconds.

Bucky ordered blueberry pancakes for Axel when the conversation was wrapping up and put them in the corner of the booth, along with a glass of chocolate milk. 

"It was nice to meet with you Adam, I'll call you if I change my mind." They shook hands again and Adam walked out of the diner with a bright smile on his face. Axel, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief. He pulled off his blazer, revealing a yellow vest underneath, climbed over Bucky's lap to the corner seat and pulled his hair out of the bun, letting it curl around his ears and stick out wildly.

"My god, he was way too nice, there's something seriously wrong with that guy. No one's that nice, last time I fell for that, I ended up getting murdered. He wants to make a movie about aliens, I get that having an alien invasion was cool, but the next person that calls me to ask for a script about an alien invasion stopped by the power of friendship, I'm gonna lose it, I don't care how sweet they were." Axel picked up one of the pancakes, without syrup, with his bare hands and started eating. 

"That's cause he wants to fuck you." Bucky muttered nonchalantly. Steve choked on the fry he was eating, surprised by how calmly they were talking about this.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, I mean I'm hot, but that dude is not even remotely gay, did you see those pants? If he was gay, what the fuck, did he spend all that time in the closet doing?" 

Bucky snorted in laughter, "That's exactly what I said." 

Steve watched their interaction fondly, it reminded him a little of Bucky with his sister Rebecca. He was happy that Tony found Bucky when he did and Bucky found a new family in the Starks, he didn't know how to thank Tony for that but he had all the time in the world to think of something. 

Axel ate the pancakes like a barbarian and sipped on the chocolate milk, he was a strange person, strange but fun, interesting, and if what Bucky said, about his boyfriend being much weirder than him, is true, Steve couldn't wait to meet Wade.

As they say there talking and eating, something Axel said a while ago clicked in his head, "Wait, murdered?"


	18. Chapter 18

Enzo was sat in the living room of his dad's floor in the tower, drawing, since Tony was still keeping an eye on him he wasn't able to go back home. He cursed Axel several times in his head but the boy stopped responding and went silent after he said something particularly nasty, not worth repeating. There had been a rift between the two of them since New Orleans, he could feel it. Even though it was four years prior, he could still feel it. Axel was getting more and more emotional and it was irritating him.

They were having more and more arguments, like siblings, everything Axel did annoyed him to no end. He could never figure it out, before they didn't mind being a voice in the other's head but lately, Enzo began wishing they had separate bodies. 

The fight they had before Enzo sat down to draw was particularly bad, and Enzo may have said somethings he shouldn't have. It was Axel's then to take control, but he was going through another one of his episodes so Enzo refused which lead to the fight. Enzo thought it was the right thing to do, letting him take control with her having one of his episodes was bad, and he didn't feel like drowning again today.

The elevator dinged, the doors opened and out walked Wade. In full hear and a beard on his face. Enzo's eyes lot up and he ran toward the man, he jumped into his arms and kissed his face all over.

Wade held him up in his arms and carried him over to the couch, sitting down making Enzo straddle him. "I missed you so much, both of you. I'm never leaving again, ever." Enzo takes his fingers through Wade's hair and latched onto his lips again. Wade pulled away again, "I saw you on the news, all fiery and hot, my unicorn got so much work that night."

Enzo laughed, "I'm flattered. I didn't even know you still had that thing." Enzo scratched his beard, "You're gonna shave this right. Beard burn between the legs is horrible." 

Wade bit his neck and Enzo groaned, "You'll just have to spread em wider baby boy. This baby took me six weeks to grow and I love it." 

Enzo was abruptly cut of from his retort when Wade flipped him into his back and attached his lips into his collar bone, making Enzo quiver underneath him. "Fuck." 

Wade ran his hands up Enzo's sides under his shirt, hiking it up until it was over his head and threw it on the floor. He pinched Enzo's nipples earning a loud moan as the boy writhed under him. Wade spread his legs apart and lay firmly between them, grinding himself into Enzo making him absolutely lose it.

"Hurry up and fuck me." 

Wade got up and pulled off his pants, helping Enzo out of his shorts immediately after. "Time to get our fuck on."

Enzo groaned , "I will leave you."

"No you won't. Get ready for your serving of Cremè de la penis." 

Enzo broke down into fits of laughter and almost fell out of the couch, if not for Wade he would have, "You say the sweetest things. I love that, we're using that from now on. Now, get your dick in me, it's been too long."

Wade saluted him, "Sir, yes, Sir."

*********************

Axel was getting angry, with Lorenzo taking over more and more often, claiming he was having episodes, Axel was in control of his own body for a week out of the entire month. He was taking his meds and hadn't done anything remotely harmful to himself since the aliens came. He was better, and Lorenzo knew that but he didn't care, all he did was take more time than originally scheduled and block him out from whatever he was doing. It got especially worse when they moved back to the loft with Wade, Axel saw the light of day maybe six hours out of the day. He tried talking to Enzo but the man would not budge.

Axel had never had any problem with Enzo before but now he was starting to wish they had separate bodies.

Right then, Enzo was with his dad helping him with a rogue sorcerer, Axel didn't have all the details but he was a sorcerer and he was a bad guy. James was there along with Steve, he had turned down SHIELD'S offer and stayed with Tony instead. The four of them tried to stop the sorcerer and they had him on the ropes. He was going down soon.

The sorcerer was getting angrier and screamed, "The hell hound must be separated from the phoenix."

No one knew what that meant, they hadn't the slightest clue, they all just thought that the man had gone mad. But Axel knew exactly what he meant and decided not to share it. He made Enzo fumble a shot, giving the sorcerer a window of opportunity to hit him with a beam right in the head and sent him flying back into a building.

The sorcerer vanished into thin air.

Axel felt the rubble beneath him, felt the wind caressing his skin and for the first time since he was fourteen his mind was clear. He saw everyone's attention was away from him and he took the chance to slip away unnoticed. Across from him, he could see a copy of himself, knocked out on the pavement and he spared him a look before taking off into the shadows.

Lorenzo finally got what he wanted, Axel just was never gonna tell him. He would finally stop being dragged into helping ungrateful assholes, Enzo could be a hero by himself now and Axel couldn't have been happier.

*****************

Lorenzo woke up in the hospital, dazed and confused. Everything hurt, more so his head, it felt like elephants had a dance party up there, his vision was clear, like he had been wearing his glasses, but he couldn't feel them in his face. There was someone talking, it was muffled and all he could hear was the beeping of the machine next to him.

Above him he could see his dad staring down at him with a worried look followed by utter confusion after he opened his eyes.

"Both of your eyes are green now. I don't understand, this is certainly a first."

"What?" Tony passed him a mirror and he saw what he had been terrified of his entire existence, Axel was gone. "He's gone." Enzo whispered. 

"Who's gone?" 

"Axel, he's gone. I can't feel him anymore, he's gone." Enzo began to panic, this was the worst thing that could possibly happen, Axel was a loose canon, unpredictable, blood thirsty. He always kept the boy in check and made sure he never did anything stupid.

"He's dead?" Tony asked in alarm.

"He's not dead, it's so much worse. The hell hound and the phoenix must be separated. We've been separated."

********************

When Axel got home, he pulled off whatever it was that Enzo had been wearing and went straight to the closest mirror. First thing he noticed was his eyes, they were the chocolate brown he originally had, his skin was more tan, he was still short but his hair looked straightened out, it barely had any curl in it. The colour had gone back to black and it was at least six inches longer than it was that morning. Everything else looked normal, he still had all of his little tattoos and scars, he breathed a sigh of relief. He got dressed in his blue sweats after showering and headed straight for the kitchen.

He hummed a happy tune and danced a little, "I had strings, but now I'm free, there are no strings on me."


	19. Chapter 19

Tony and Lorenzo were on high alert, Lorenzo being one hundred percent sure that Axel was up to something nefarious now they had been separated, maybe even a bit confused and going off the rails. The boy hadn't taken his meds in a week and started writing something that was slightly worrying. They had checked the loft, but only Wade had been there. All of Axel's clothes were gone, his books, his notepads, his bong and most importantly, the poster of the Care Bears he had in his closet. Axel was gone and he wasn't planning on coming back.

Lorenzo was panicking, he thought Axel wasn't stable enough to be on his own, maybe even too fragile to handle anything. Which had been his biggest mistake. Enzo always underestimated the boy, Axel had always been more than capable of taking care of himself, it seemed more like Lorenzo couldn't function properly without having someone to shit on all the time.

Tony and Wade tried to calm him down, told him they were gonna find Axel. They kept eating up his shit that the boy needed to be found because he was so dangerous. 

And, after a long day of searching, the three of them went back to the tower, where they heard laughter. Genuine laughter. In the living room, it sounded like three people. They could smell food and hear the t.v in the background.

They entered the room, and there, sitting criss cross on Bucky's knees, was Axel, wearing a short pink, fluffy Care Bears bath robe, glasses on, eating a bowl of mac and cheese. Steve was sat next to them, eating pizza and they were watching Star Trek. 

"Is it just me, or is Spock like really hot in a daddy kind of way?" Axel asked seemingly out of nowhere.

Steve narrowed his eyes at the t.v, "It may just be you, Axe."

Bucky, who had been braiding Axel's hair, huffed in disagreement, "I can kind of see it, the ears are really doing something for me."

"Maybe, he's just not your type Steve, he's not short, a sarcastic genius, doesn't have a goatee he hasn't shaved since 1994, really fluffy hair and a serious caffeine addiction." Axel's snarky remark made Steve turn a deep shade of red.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't like Tony like that."

"I never said anything about my dad. But know this, the feeling is totally mutual, last week, we were in his workshop and he was designing your suit and spent like two hours making the bottom part, said the Shield suit did absolutely nothing for your ass. Isn't that right dad?" Axel startled everyone when he turned around and smiled at the trio standing sheepishly by the door.

"Why are you idiots standing over there, come on, I made mac and cheese and Steve brought pizza, it's pepperoni." Axel notably looked Enzo up and down a look flashing in his eyes, "You are certainly on the paler side, it's almost sickly, you got to keep the curly locks, thank god for that. Other than that and the eyes we could totally pass for twins, my god. Did I always have such a nice ass? "

Lorenzo crosses his arms, "Shut up, I need to talk to you." Axel continued eating, mentioning for him to continue, he clenched his jaw, "In private, you dim fool."

Axel sighed, and stood up from Bucky's lap when he finished the braid. Enzo led him to their room and slammed the door after them. Axel dropped into the bed and watched Enzo pace around the room.

"This doesn't make any sense, this can't be happening. We need to figure out what happened and reverse it. We could force the sorcerer to undo the spell, you cannot be left alone without someone watching you. You're too dangerous." 

When Lorenzo didn't get any input from Axel, he looked at the boy and saw him laid out in the bed, on his phone. Enzo grunted and snatched it away from him, "Listen to me! This is important, there's always a catch with these things, what if someone dies or something."

Axel raised his eyebrow, "And why do I give a shit that someone dies. News flash idiot, people die everyday, you think saving one person from something they're gonna have to do later on is gonna change something. And who says I wanna be back together again? You treat me like I'm some sort of child, like I need adult supervision twenty four seven, I don't. I am not a child. And I am not dangerous, everything I have ever done, was purely out of self defence, I didn't attack anyone, they attacked me." 

Enzo rolled his eyes, "I don't care. We are changing back, you have no say in this."

"I say, fuck off. You have no control over me anymore Lorrie and I like it how it is. We do our separate thing, you can go pretend to be a silly superhero and I'll stay here with my stories."

Lorenzo snarled at him and his head burned with a raging fire, "We are fixing this!" The look in his eyes said it all and Axel started laughing.

"You're a scared little bitch, under all that. You need me, a fragile minded weakling, to shit on every time you feel it. I got news for you, I'm feeling the best I've ever felt since the day you invaded my mind, latched onto me like the leach you are. You come in here with your head on fire, like a wanna be Hades, telling me I have to go back to the life that made me fucking miserable. You can fuck off. Everyday, I had to listen to you tell me, I was crazy, and stupid. No more. You and your little boyfriend can go back home and fuck each other's brains out, don't let the door hit you on the way out." Axel snatched his phone back and left a stunned Enzo standing there.

It didn't take long before Enzo grabbed Axel by the neck and pinned him against the wall, "You are not in control here, you don't get to determine what happens here, we are going and getting this reversed, that's the last time I say it."

Axel slowly peeled his hand from around his throat and listened to the bones crack, "You are the one who is not in control anymore, you forget but I am so much stronger than you, you don't decide shit for me anymore. If you try this again, well see if you got the immortality thing to, I have no problem breaking your neck."

Axel growled out, there was a dangerous look in his eyes as red flashed across them, the air around him started moulding into wispy black smog. Enzo was taken by the neck and thrown across the room, right through the door and into a wall, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

"Goodbye, brother."


	20. Chapter 20

Since the night Axel threw him out of his room, Lorenzo had been in a state of depression and anger for the next two weeks. There was nothing anyone could do to get him out of bed, to get something to eat, nothing. He felt like a part of him had been taken away, like something was missing. He had never existed without Axel, and he had been more afraid now than he had ever been. This made him depressed.

The fact that Axel seemed so fine without him, even calling him a leach, made him angry. He thought he was protecting his brother all those years, he didn't realise all those snide comments and remarks had any kind of impact on Axel. He thought making the boy get rid of things in his life that made him a laughing stock would make people stop bullying him, and it did work. After Enzo quit ballet for Axel - without his knowledge - and made him dress like everyone else. No one bullied him anymore. Lorenzo thought Axel would be more grateful, should be more grateful.

What could he have ever expected from a brat? The boy has never known anything but privilege, best schools, best clothes, best of everything. A few bullies was nothing compared to what other people went through. Axel was ungrateful.

But, the boy had taken multiple bullets, figuratively and literally. People he thought were friends hurt him in the worst possible ways. He hasn't been mentally all there since the beatings and the betrayals, being shot in the head twice would change anyone. People hating him because he was different, changed him, Enzo could see why he would never want to help a living soul ever. There had been countless times, kids walked pass him getting punched or kicked and just walked away, or stood there laughing, sometimes even the teachers never even paid him any attention. 

Lorenzo was spilt between hating his brother and understanding him. There wasn't a heroic bone in Axel's body, most heroic thing he ever did had been buying their apartment building from greedy owners and giving people down on their luck a place to stay. There were currently six single mothers living in a free apartment and four old people. The old landlords always threatened them with eviction and raised the rent every year, when Axel found out, he bought the building at a low price after threatening the landlord and gave apartments away to people who needed them, but couldn't afford them.

Enzo had never understood why he did it, when he asked he just nonchalantly stated,"I do what I want." The only answer he would ever get out of him. 

Lorenzo lay curled up in his bed once again, in his depressed phase. Now that Axel was gone, his life had no purpose, he could go out and play hero again as he loved to do, but New York was uncharacteristically quiet today. He just moped around all day waiting for his boyfriend to get home.

********

Axel parked his jeep outside the apartment building, he had a possible new resident checking out the place, a young couple and their four year old kid. He looked them up before letting them come here, the woman was a waitress, lovely woman. Her name was Lillian, blonde hair, blue eyes, a little chubby and very jumpy. According to police records they got a lot of noise complaints before being evicted a couple days ago and the she filed a report saying the man liked to beat her up. 

The man, his name was Bradley, he was a tall, buff man. He had muscles popping out of everywhere and he had a record, assault and battery, assault with a deadly weapon and drug charges, nothing ever stuck. He worked at a gym, three days a week and was a raging alcoholic. 

From what Axel could see so far he would not like Bradley at all. Lillian had her face caked in make up, her hair hiding her neck and long sleeves in the middle of summer. He held her shoulder with an iron grip and a fake smile plastered on his face. Lillian was looking down the entire time, playing with her son's hair, while the boy, Adam was clinging to her right leg, staring at his dad in fright.

Axel straightened out his white t-shirt and walked up to them. "Hello, sorry to keep you waiting. I am Axel Stark, lovely to finally meet you Lillian." Axel shook her hand, purposefully ignoring Bradley's hand and bending down to shake Adam's hand. "You must be Adam, I think you're gonna love it here."

"We've been standing here for five minutes, it's about time you got here." Bradley crossed his arms, frown in his face.

Axel smiled and ignored him focusing solely on Lillian, "Shall we get started?"

Lillian nodded, gently prying the toddler off her leg, Bradley got impatient and ripped him off, "You're a big boy, stop acting like a baby."

Axel walked ahead, fighting his every instinct to kill this man, right here, but he cleared his throat, "The apartment is this way."

********

Axel unlocked the door, "It is fully furnished, three bedrooms, two bathrooms. It is very spacious, enough room for the little one to run around. You can look around if you want to, I need to speak with Bradley about the cost."

Lillian gave Axel a look before she nodded and grabbed her son disappearing inside the apartment.

Bradley seemed annoyed by this, "That was all in the ad, it five hundred for a month and you people mind your own business. I thought Lilly went over this with you already. Good for nothing women am I right."

He grinned at Axel like they were long lost buddies, which irritated him even more, he merely shrugged, moving out of Lillian and the boy's sight, next to a door at the end of the hall. Bradley crossed his arms, seemingly trying to look intimidating but coming off as constipated, Axel stuffed his hands in his pants pockets and tried not to punch him.

"So, how much...?" He couldn't even finish getting the words out when someone came up behind him and put a cloth on his face, Bradley fought hard, kudos to him for trying but it wasn't enough against an enhanced human. Manny, he was one of the residents here, Axel found him years ago when he was seventeen sleeping on a park bench, his parents kicked him out when they found out he was a mutant. He was strong, fast and could breath under water. Months after he got here, he volunteered to help Axel with disgruntled ex husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, who ever caused his residents to seek him out.

Axel only took in victims, after he bought the place there he found there was a woman who hand lived there with her boyfriend, she had no job, no money and she could never get away from him, with him being a cop. She suffered every night at his hands, until Axel caught wind of this and made him disappear, he let the woman stay free of cost and helped her out with anything she needed. It was her who gave him the idea to do what he does now, she made him realise there were people out there, trapped and needed out. 

He started a service when he was twenty one, just three years prior, he made a friend out of a police officer - friend being a very loose word - who would tip him off when ever someone was in trouble, Axel would send said person a secret message, sometimes they would never respond but most times they would. He would lure the abuser/bully someplace, knock them out and take them someplace to "talk". None of them have ever come back, out of fear or other things when they were being particularly difficult. 

After a while, one building wasn't enough and he bought another, a bigger building. It was old and broken down, he fixed it up and set up more clients there. Anyone without a job he would help them get one, or they would work for him in the kidnapping business. So far there were only three people working for him, Manny, David - the driver - and Stacy - she was a transgender woman who's parents kicked her out when she came out, she was eighteen when Axel found her a couple years back and she is very good with chemicals, she distributed the dosages.

David was fresh out of prison for car jacking when Axel found him, he was ready to turn his life around, ready to do good but no one gave him work and his family refused to even help him, which lead to him almost killing himself, Axel caught him before he jumped. He was thirty two at the time, came from a very Catholic, rich family.

Hiding this from Lorenzo was difficult and the person who separated them was going to receive a gift from him very soon.

Lorenzo, Wade or Tony know nothing of this, Axel told James months ago, sometimes he helped and James told Steve who had no problem with it, as long as no one got killed or hurt. He used his writing as a cover for his activities, telling everyone he was writing porn. No one writes porn, they just get together and fuck, no writing required. It was perfect, people were too uncomfortable to talk about it or even ask questions. 

Pretending to be crazy, and dressing like a lunatic was the icing on the cake, no one would ever think he was capable of anything like this. At first, the clothes were a way to get people's attention away from the fact that he was a Stark, people would look at his appearance and see he was nothing like his father and maybe, never ask him to fix their phones, but that soon evolved into a cover of sorts, dress crazy people think you're crazy. No one ever suspects you're the leader of a vigilante type group.

Manny caught Bradley in his arms, when he went unconscious and threw him over his shoulder, taking him to the van. Axel went back to speak with Lillian and make sure she had everything she needed to settle in.


	21. Chapter 21

"You are a pathetic piece of shit! Look at you curled up in the corner like a little bitch, are you crying? Are you seriously crying right now? You are such a pussy, it's only a little cut, Kit."

The man curled farther into the corner, holding the stab wound in his right arm. This has been a regular occurrence for two years, she would come home late at night almost every night drink or high and have an episode, where she would hit him, rarely ever seriously wounding. Tonight, however, had been different, Shannon got fired from her firm today and she blamed everything in him, going as far as attacking him with a butcher's knife.

Kit looked fearfully at her as she stood there, crazy look in her eyes, her usually neat blonde hair in complete disarray. Tonight was the first time in this relationship he actually feared for his life. She took everything from him and he was powerless to fight back, even before without the chair she always had the upper hand, he figured he deserves it, if he was a better husband maybe she would never have turned into this monster. 

He was getting dizzy from blood loss, couldn't really make out exactly what she was saying, but she just stopped talking and left, leaving him on the floor confused.

In the middle of Shannon's rant at her husband, the doorbell rang, followed by a series of knocks, "Police, open up!"

"Shit!" She fixed her hair and straightened out her pants suit, dropped the knife out of sight, she directed her gaze onto Kit in the corner, "You don't make a God damn sound."

Shannon walked to the door, checked herself over again and opened the door with a bright smile. "Hello officers, how can I...", Cut off by a punch to the face, knocking her out instantly, Shannon fell like a sack of potatoes. 

Axel walked inside the house followed by Stacey and Manny, stepping over the unconscious body, "Kit!...Kit! You here?!" There was a groan coming from the living room, "You two, check that out. I'll deal with this thing, and get the kid." Axel grabbed Shannon by her hair and dragged her in the opposite direction of the living room.

*************

Shannon woke up tied to a chair at her dining room table, duct tape on her mouth and arms tied in front of her. Axel Stark stood before her in a maroon suit and leather gloves, she remembered him from that morning at the firm in the elevator. She tried to hit on him and he turned her down with a look of disgust on his face. Shannon feared for her life in this moment and she struggled against the bonds but ultimately failing.

"A thirteen year old boy called me a few weeks ago, said his step mother was a bitch and she needed to be stopped. At first I thought he just hated you, I could agree, I hated every single one of my dad's girlfriends, one even tried to poison me, she was nuts." Axel chuckled at the memory , "But then, I thought, this little man would not have gone through all this trouble if the situation wasn't serious, so, I investigated. What the hell did Kit ever do to you? He's such a nice man, a sweetheart really. Did you know that every day, he goes out in his wheelchair, just down the road, with left overs from his dinner or lunch and gives em to three homeless guys? He's been doing it for years."

Axel lay out some things on the table, a briefcase, a bowl, a bottle of vodka and a sharp knife. Shannon tried to scream but the tape prevented it from coming out, just muffled screams came out, tears ran down her face one after the other as she was completely helpless in the situation.

"This is what is going to happen, I'm going to take your blood. Only like...half of a cup, it's for insurance purposes. Then, I'm gonna untie you and you're gonna sign some papers, you can refuse, just know that you will be...harmed if you do not comply. After that transaction, you, are gonna pack your shit and only your shit, and you are gonna leave and never come back. Don't call Kit, don't text him, you don't go near him."

Axel took Shannon's tied hands and tore the sleeves of the jacket she was wearing, exposing her bare arm. She was struggling to get away, but she wasn't going anywhere. He picked up the knife and cut horizontally on her wrists, making her wince in pain, he brought the bowl to her and caught the blood dripping down her arm.

"If Brandon hadn't called me, you would've killed Kit wouldn't you? " Shannon shook her head frantically, her eyes were puffy and red from the crying, "Don't lie, you were thinking about it, weren't you?" Another shake of the head, Axel mockingly per her head in pity, "I totally believe you. Kit is in the hospital, if you care of course, he's gonna be okay. We didn't call the police, I am giving you a chance to turn your life around. After all, everyone deserves a second chance, don't they? This won't be happening again."

Axel moved to the briefcase and took out a doll, it looked old, it was made of cloth and had buttons for eyes. Axel poured the blood on the doll, whispering words in another language. Suddenly, it caught on fire and Shannon felt a searing pain in her gut, making her cry out, it got worse and worse until it just disappeared.

The doll turned to ash in Axel hand and he blew it in her face making her inhale it. Her vision went hazy for a while but she came to eventually.

Axel set some paper on the table, along with a pen, "Divorce papers, the deed to the house and most of your property, including your beach house. You are gonna sign them over to Kit. Now, I'm gonna untie you, if you try anything you will regret it."

He cut her bonds, throwing the tape aside, he reached across the table to get the contracts. In this moment, Shannon thought that running was a good idea, she got up and tried, she really did, but Axel was much faster than her and grabbed her, he lay her right hand flat on the table and drove the knife straight through her hand and the table. She cried out, so hard Axel had to cover her mouth.

"I did warn you not to move." He set the papers before her, dropping the pen on top, "Sign. And don't bullshit me, I know for a fact you're left handed. Sign!" 

Shannon didn't even hesitate, she signed the papers with shaky hands. When she was finished, Axel yanked the knife out of her hand following that by throwing vodka on the wound, she screamed out again.

"Oh shut it, this is nothing compared to what you did to that poor man. You are the one who put him in the wheelchair, told the cops it was an accident, ran him over with your car twice. One would think Kit did something so horrible, but all he did was help the lady next door with a flat tire. You are a shit person, a bully and I hope you rot. Get to packing your shit and get out, I'll wait." 

Axel ripped the tape off her mouth and kicked her out of the chair. Shannon scrambled out of the room, running upstairs, while Axel packed up his stuff and sat down, kicking his legs up on the desk. The took out his phone to text Manny about Kit's condition.

****************

Axel got home to the tower hours later, after Shannon was gone and he left Brandon a note, along with the divorce papers for Kit. He left his briefcase in the trunk of the jeep and made his way to his floor via elevator. He peeled of his gloves and jacket, throwing them over the back of the couch. There was music coming from Tony's workshop, meaning his dad was still in there working on something.

He made his way toward the workshop, the doors slid open and he walked in, "Jarvis cut the music." The music shut off immediately and loud snores could be heard from the couch in the workshop. Axel found Tony knocked out in the couch, in a position that would hurt him in the morning.

Axel tsked, walking over to him to pick him up bridal style, taking Tony to his room. He lay him in the bed, taking his shoes off and tucking him. Tony rolled over onto his stomach as soon as he was in the bed and Axel chuckled lightly. He sat at the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

He was exhausted, after two weeks of being separated from his brother, his mind still hadn't adjusted to being awake for more than eight hours and going everyday without the nagging voice in his head, everything felt strange. He left Tony's room and went to his own, dropping into his bed.

"Fuck me."


	22. Chapter 22

Axel walked into Tony's workshop with a paper bag and a cup of tea. It was six in the evening and he hadn't seen his father leave the workshop since the previous night. Axel knew his dad kept food in the lab, but blue berries and black coffee could only keep someone for so long.

"Hey dad, you look like actual shit." Tony rolled his eyes at his son going back to what he was previously working on, sparks were flying and Axel had no idea what he was doing but it looked cool. "You haven't slept in four days and don't lie to me, I asked Jarvis." 

"I'm fine, I just have to finish this and I'll go to sleep." Tony muttered.

"Bullshit dad. What is this the Mark twenty-five now? How many of these things have you built instead of going to a therapist?" Axel moved the gauntlet Tony was working on and replaced it with the bag, "I got you chocolate cake and a latte, it's decaf, you need to sleep." 

"I can't sleep." Tony was avoiding his eyes, he sipped the coffee and looked everywhere but Axel's face.

Axel looked at him knowingly, Tony didn't want to see the look of pity he probably thought Axel had on his face. Axel scratched the top of Tony's head, from where he stood at the other side of the table. "You should try the cake, I got it from this bakery that was going out of business. This sweet old lady, June, she makes the best pastries and cakes I've ever had, she always insists that I never have to pay for anything but I always put a hundred in the tip jar. It's two blocks away from my apartment building."

Tony tried it and moaned in delight, "It's so soft. How is it so soft?" He finally looked up at Axel, who had a soft smile on his face, he just shrugged his shoulders. 

"No idea. She keeps telling me they're made with love." 

Tony pursed his lips and stopped eating, "I keep seeing you, whenever I close my eyes, I see you flying up to that giant hole in the sky but you never make it, you always die, and I can't sleep. What if something like this happens again? We need to be ready for anything, I need to finish this, to protect you, to protect all of us. We can't fight aliens again, we'll lose." 

"Losing is apart of life dad, can't do shit about that, we simply have to learn from it. And, it's impossible to prepare for anything, what if it was zombies but you prepared for aliens." Tony scoffed, "Do you want to go for a drive? I have something to show you."

Tony shrugged, "Sure."

******************

They pulled up to a seemingly empty central park, Axel jumped out of the jeep and slammed the door, Tony reluctantly followed. Axel lead him through the park, at first he couldn't tell why he was here, there was nothing, until he saw a soft orange light in the distance. The closer that walked the more he could see and Tony saw a group of at least twelve people sitting around a camp fire.

"Is that legal?" 

Axel shrugged, "No idea, but they don't care."

"Why are we here?"

"Like three years ago, I started this service of sorts, where people who needed an apartment would come to me and I would do a background check to make sure they weren't criminals or bullies of any sort. Parents who lost their jobs or had shit landlords, would come and I would rent them a cheap apartment. Then it escalated, some of the single parents came from abusive partners who came back looking for them. That got me to realise, there are so many cases like that where people were trapped and couldn't escape in their own. People in shit situations that left them with nothing." They stopped far enough to hear what the people were saying and not be seen. Axel pointed at one of the people, it was a woman with half of an arm from her elbow down was gone, she was brunette and pale from what Tony could see and had a massive scar on her face.

"That's Shelby, she was a navy seal, married with three kids, her life was great, until her and her unit got hit with an IED, she was the only survivor. Came back home with PTSD to a husband that didn't love her anymore, because she was ugly to him, so he took the kids and left after she had a breakdown, told the judge she was crazy and got sole custody, she can't even see the kids again and she lost the house and couldn't even find a job. I met her at the bank begging for an extension, she got kind of violent and they kicked her out. She didn't like me at first, so I gave her my card and told her to call me if she needed anything."

Axel pointed to a young boy, "That's Manny, he works for me sometimes. He's a mutant. One day his dad is fixing their car, and the thing you hold up the car with, broke and the car collapsed on him, trapping him under it. Everyone was freaking out, his dad was suffocating slowly under there and in a moment of stupidity, Manny lifted the car off him. His parents thought the devil possessed him and kicked him out. I found him sleeping on a bench in this very park, he was seventeen, I brought him my place and gave him some place to stay, he hasn't left since." 

"You helped all these people?" 

Axel smiled, "Of course not, some of them helped themselves." Axel pointed out two people, "Rodney and Kayla, they're siblings. Their parents were drug addicts, used to beat the shit out of them everyday, until they fought back and ran away together. They stumbled into the right building that night. He's nineteen and she's fifteen. Then there's Courtney, he was a heroin addict, he wanted to stop after he almost died. He moved here from Texas, came upon my building and the rest is history." 

"This is the first time I've ever been here, they've invited me many times but I don't have any traumas I need healing and I'm always busy, with you or Enzo or another caller, something always came up. There have been a few I couldn't help, some killed themselves, some wound up in prison and some just ran from the demons, but, I take pride in the ones I could help. I have never seen Shelby smile at anything in my life and look at her." 

Shelby was grinning from ear to ear at something one of them said, they all were, a chorus of laughter could be heard from afar and for some reason, it brought a smile to Tony's face. He could feel pride swelling in his chest, he would have never thought Axel of all people would do something like this, but it was a very nice surprise. 

"Are you hungry?" Asked Axel.

**************

"Do you even write anymore? Or was it all a cover for your dark secret? Are you like batman, you adopt everyone and kick people's asses? Do you have a costume? Like a cape and the cowl? Do you have a Robin? Does Lorenzo know about it? Why didn't you tell me?" Tony rambled on with question after question. They were sitting in a Burger King, sat in a corner booth. Tony had two cheese burgers and coke, Axel had a veggie burger and water.

Axel shrugged, "Yes, I still write, I honestly can't believe that's your first question, and it's not a dark secret. People usually feel safer when everything is anonymous, more people ask you for help, even the guys. I'm nothing like batman, I don't adopt anyone, I can't fight, I just punch em and knock em out, I don't have a costume, I just wear whatever is appropriate for the neighbourhood so I don't stand out. Sort of with the Robin thing, Manny is the one who helps me out, him and his girlfriend Stacey help with the victims, I'm not exactly the warmest of people. Lorenzo doesn't know."

"You skipped one. I may be running on fumes but my brain is still functioning. C'mon, why didn't you tell me? I'm going to assume Bucky knows, he's your best friend, you tell him everything. I guess Steve knows, cause Bucky tells him everything, but why didn't you tell me? It's one of the most selfless things I've ever witnessed, unlike all these other rich assholes broadcasting how much they help the underprivileged, you do it on private, with your own money. You didn't ask for anything, you've been doing this alone for three years, in the shadows and I think that's amazing. I am very proud of you, your mother would be proud of you and so would Papi." 

Axel felt a little choked up by Tony's speech and wiped the tear running down his face, "Christ on a cracker, now I'm crying. I just turned into an old white dude, this is not cool dad. You have me crying in Burger King for Christ sake. The reason I do it in secret, is because of that ignorant law that says being a vigilante is illegal, what I do is basically that. Some people only learn with violence, couple weeks ago I stabbed a woman after she tried to kill her paraplegic husband with a butcher's knife, I shot a priest once, I broke another priest's legs, something is seriously wrong with the priests out here, I gave a fat kid a wedgie, the list is very long." 

Tony choked on the last cheese burger, "What? Go back, you can't just stroll past that like you didn't just say that. You shot a priest, why would you ever need to shoot a priest?"

"Asshole tried to shoot me first, came up like he was Walter White or some shit, he was selling drugs cause he got in bad with a loan shark, right. And it's like this dude watched Breaking Bad way too many times, he starts selling drugs in the church, he gets cocky after a while, kills the loan shark and kidnaps his three year old daughter. And you know, you should never trust a priest with a toddler, so her mother calls the police and they don't believe her cause, it's a priest, and cops are cunts, one of the cops that works at the station is a friend and she relays the information. We find him in half an hour, I get there, he has like fourteen guys with guns walking around. We're in a church, I didn't want to be disrespectful, so I give him a chance to stand down, but he tells the guys to get rid of me and I think you can guess how the rest of that went down."

Axel took a gulp of water and bit into his burger, frowning, he looked at the sandwich and pouted, "They forgot my pickles." He whispered in the most innocent tone ever spoken and Tony was a bit stunned for a second that this was the same man, who was just talking about shooting a priest a second ago.

"I miss this, we haven't hung out in a while." 

Axel frowned, "We hung out last week, we went to that new pizza place." 

"But Steve was there, I meant just the two of us, I miss it. I never got to do this with my dad, he was always to busy comparing me to other kids, even though they were all dumb as rocks."

"I would punch your dad if he was still alive, just give him a good punch, maybe break his jaw and knock out a few teeth."

Tony laughed, "That's hilarious because you did punch him once, you were two and he said something that upset me and you just marched right over to him, gave him the meanest look you could and you just hit him in the face like three times. Your grandma picked you up out of his reach so he wouldn't hit you back, never hesitated with me."

"Definitely would have punched him." 

Tony laughed followed by Axel who couldn't contain it any longer. The two idiots sat in Burger King, giggling like children, onlookers were probably thinking they were nuts but they didn't care. 

***************

Axel put Tony to bed after his plan had worked on getting his dad in a food coma, he tucked him in and everything. The young Stark walked to his room and paused when he felt a presence inside, his door was ajar, exactly how he left it before he left. If he hadn't obtained a sixth sense over the years he would have thought that he was alone, but after years of surprises, he walked away from the door and hid.

Not seconds later, someone dressed in all black with heavy steel tied boots came walking out with a large book on his hands. Axel stepped out calmly, "What do you think you're doing, bro?" 

Lorenzo faced him with rage painted on his face, "You knew? You knew what happened to us and you did say anything?"

Axel rolled his eyes, "Of course I knew, I know everything."

Enzo pointed out a part in one of the chapters, "It says, I'm an angel, you're a demon and together we would have caused some kind of disaster. What does that mean, Axel? "

Axel snatched the book from him and turned a couple pages, "Through the manipulation of the hell beast, the angel caused a great wave of fire to swallow cities whole. If separated the hell beast stands a chance against the angel if the angel decides he wants to become a destroyer." 

"I'm gonna become a genocidal maniac?" 

"Calm your tits, they're probably just talking about Staten island, even the people there want to be engulfed in flames." Axel shut the book and tucked it behind his back.

Enzo jabbed him in the chest, "This is serious. I don't want to become a destroyer, I don't want to destroy anything."

"And you won't, we'll fight this together. Like we always did, even though you're a controlling asshole."

Enzo was gonna fight the statement but then shrugged, cause he knew it was true, "Fine, I will control myself. I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

Enzo grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in his eyes, "If I get out of control, I want you to kill me."

Axel shrugged, "No problem, I have wanted to kill you since the day you popped up on my head."

Enzo punched him in the arm, "Shut up." Axel smiled and hugged him.

"I missed you, asshole."


	23. Chapter 23

A silver Camero sped through the streets of Brooklyn, trying to get away from the motorcycle following him. Shawn, the driver, was covered in blood, from his face to his neck from the nose bleed he had acquired from the previous brawl. Shawn was panicking as he saw the motorcyclist gaining on him, the man on the black Ducati has been chasing him for fifteen minutes through the streets. He had been at home when someone broke down the door of his loft and attacked him, he managed to throw boiling water at them and get away, but obviously not very far.

He hadn't seen their face as since they were wearing a motorcycle helmet, they were wearing a black jumper, black jeans, red leather gloves and black Timberland boots. They had a tattoo of a busty mermaid with a leprechaun smacking her ass on the left side of their neck and another in the right of The Joker in drag.

Suddenly, the person on the bike disappeared through an alley, Shawn breathed in relief, but never let his guard up, he knew that they hadn't given up. 

He drove to his friends place cautiously, his friend lived twenty minutes away from where he was. He drove as fast as he could, looking around every few minutes for the motorcyclist, after a few when he thought he lost them. The bike appeared again from an alley a hundred metres in front of him and drove straight at him in some twisted game of chicken. Shawn was determined to get rid of this person so he grit his teeth and pushed the gas.

They were at most fifty metres ahead of him and coming in even faster, at the last minute, Shawn veered off the road and crashed into a fire hydrant, smashing his head against the steering wheel. He could hear the rumble of the motorbike ahead of him. Shawn gasped in pain as blood ran down his forehead, his ribs felt broken and his leg was bleeding. He struggled to open the door and get out of the car, but he managed painfully. He dropped onto the sidewalk with a grunt, and got up. Shawn looked to his left to see the biker get off their bike and menacingly stalk toward him. He tried to limp away as fast as possible but his leg was fucked up.

The biker mockingly ran toward him in slow motion, playing with him. Shawn was terrified when he heard the laughter of whoever it was, chills went straight down his spine and he sped up. 

It was the middle of the night, there were a few people outside at the moment and none of them noticed what was happening, all their attention was drawn to the demolished car and the broken fire hydrant water was spraying out of. 

A hand grabbed his neck and he was thrown up against a wall and his feet were off the ground. Shawn gasped for air, clawing at the person's hand as they cut of his air supply.

"How does it feel to be the prey, Mr. Serial Rapist? Doesn't feel very nice now does it? Have to say this has been fun, think I'm gonna do this again. I can certainly see why you like it so much." It was a man from what he could tell, the deep voice gave it away, based on the slight accent he was not from around here.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shawn choked out.

"Debbie says hello." Shawn's eyes have him away by how wide they got, "So does Kathy, Mason, Carolina and so much more people. You really get around don't you. Never been convicted cause your daddy is the district attorney. He's gonna get what's coming to him soon enough, you'll see him again in hell." 

Shawn gasped and scratched at him again but it was futile, the hand around his neck got impossibly tighter and tighter until you could hear the bones in his neck breaking. Shawn slumped against the wall, dead, as every bone in his neck was broken. The killer dropped his body like a sack of potatoes and walked away like nothing happened.

He got onto his bike and sped down the street.

*******************

Lorenzo woke up to the smell of pizza, he checked the clock beside him and saw it was one in the afternoon, meaning he slept through the entire morning, he shrugged, not like he had anything to do anyway since it was Saturday. He got out of bed and brushed his teeth, checked himself in the mirror and wiped the sleep from his eyes. He pulled on his grey sweat pants and went out to get something to eat. 

Two very distinct voices were coming from the living room, one was Wade and the other, without a doubt was Axel. Ever since they made up a few weeks ago, his brother had been coming over whenever he felt like, Enzo had no problems with that, it was his building he could do whatever. His problem was, he was kind of jealous of Axel's relationship with Wade. It was mostly the reason behind why he treated Axel so poorly in the past, but he never said anything. Wade was more himself with Axel than he is with him, and Enzo was jealous of that, the pair had been closer from the start, even during their little disagreement after being separated, the two texted and called each other everyday.

Enzo knew he had nothing to worry about, after Axel came out as ace a few years ago. After spending some time being thoroughly confused with his body, moments where he felt like a freak for not wanting to do the devil's tango and a short bout with depression, he came out when he realised and after extensive research. He knew Axel didn't mean any harm by it, he was just a semi clingy person and he latched onto Wade a couple years ago. They always cuddled and it kinda ticked Enzo off.

Like now, Axel was sitting on the ground between Wade's legs, Wade was sat in the couch, said man was running his fingers through Axel's hair, eating a slice of pepperoni pizza, while Axel smoked a joint. He sat there, in his stupid horn rimmed glasses, and his stupid pink jumper with his stupid blue striped cotton shorts and his hair falling in loose curls down his back.

Lorenzo was fuming on the inside when he noticed something on the side of Axel's neck, next to the ridiculous mermaid tattoo, his neck was red, like it had been burnt with hot water. He would know, Axel used to put their hands in boiling water to see if they could still feel sometimes. They could feel it. Every time.

"What the fuck happened to your neck?"

Axel snapped out of whatever trip he was on and smiled when he saw Enzo, "My neck? You know, occupational hazard. Someone threw boiling water at me, isn't that crazy?"

"Why the hell would someone do that? Do I need to fight someone?" Enzo could feel steam come from his skin. 

Axel waved him off, "Calm down, it has been dealt with. Everyone is still alive and kicking, some people may be severely injured but it's not my fault."

Wade's eyes were glued to the T.v. which Enzo hadn't realised was on. It looked like they had been watching some cartoon or something, Enzo rolled his eyes, "Are you children? What the fuck are you watching?"

Wade shushed him, "We're learning about friendship, it's magic."

Lorenzo was perplexed, he raised his eyebrow, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"My Little Pony is the single greatest thing to happen to television and I will not have you shit all over it. Now shut up, Pinky Pie is talking." Axel nodded along, agreeing with Wade's statement.

Enzo narrowed his eyes at them both and realised, "Are you two high?"

Axel giggled, "We are so stoned it's almost biblical." Wade broke out in a fit of laughter as well. Lorenzo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, walking away from the two.

"It's so hard being the only sane person in this place." His phone pinged and he fished it out of his pocket. It was a news article, it looked like someone died or something. He opened it and read it to himself.

"Alleged serial rapist, Shawn Peterson murdered in the streets of Brooklyn. According to the police he was choked so hard every bone in his neck was broken... ... Son of district attorney Bernard Peterson......" Enzo skimmed through the details in the report that seemed to be written by an illiterate four year old, "Only evidence to killer is a black motorbike and a tattoo a camera caught on the back of their neck, a skull laying in a bed of black roses with the words "Where is me gold?" written underneath. The killer is obviously not right in the head."

Enzo looked back at Axel who was watching the show intently, he knew that was his tattoo, he had been the one to draw it. He shook his head kept reading, he knew his brother Axel always had a reason for everything he did and eleven out of ten times it was purely selfless. "The victim had been accused of several rapes in the past two years and suspected of the murder of Deborah Duncan. Who had been strangled to death, after a brutal assault, late last year and her killer, never found. She was only sixteen years old."

Lorenzo shrugged, "He had that coming. Dick."


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ ] means they're speaking German.

It was three in the morning when Lorenzo's phone rang, it was raining cats and dogs outside and he had been cuddled up naked in bed with Wade. He wormed his way out of the man's arms and answered the phone begrudgingly.

"What?"

"Is this Lorenzo Alma?" The stern voice of a man, came through the phone, peaking his interest.

Enzo sat up straight, "Yes this is he. "

"Axel Stark had been arrested earlier on the charge of disturbing the peace, we thought he was on drugs or at least drunk but his toxicology came back negative. He seems manic and keeps on screaming about rabid monkeys taking over the world. We searched through his belongings and found a card with your number on it. Could you come down to the station to pick him up? It's the ninety ninth precinct in Brooklyn."

"I'll be right there."

**************

"These are his belongings." The uniformed officer handed him a bag, with a phone, some cash, keys and other little knick knacks, one that really stuck out was an old tooth, "We thought that was weird to, I think your brother might need psychological help."

"He already had two therapists and has visited the psych ward three times. He's been fine since he was eighteen, this is probably just an small episode."

"May I ask what's wrong with him? If you don't mind."

"He's bipolar."

The cop opened up the door that lead to the holding cells, Axel was the first person he saw. Dressed in black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and black converse, his hair was tied up in a bun. His knuckles were bloody and so was his forehead. He was handcuffed to the bars of the cell and he sat there rocking back and forth, a manic look in his eyes as they twitched. It looked like he was whispering words to himself. Enzo noticed he was the only person in that fell while the other cells were cramped full of people looking at his brother like he was nuts.

"He wouldn't stop hurting himself, kept punching the walls, then started head butting the walls and screaming about the monkeys taking over the world."

The cop, hesitantly opened the cell and unlocked the handcuffs, stepping back so he wouldn't get hurt if Axel decided to start swinging. But Enzo could see it in Axel's eyes now that he was up close and personal and he sighed in annoyance. From the corner of his eye he took a look at everyone who could hear them, and switched from English to German.

["What the fuck are you doing? I just wasted eight hundred dollars on you."

Axel curled in on himself, "Occupational hazard. Needed to get in without potentially going to prison."

"They're gonna put you in the fucking mental for a psych evaluation."

"That only takes three days, I just convince them it was a temporary one time thing."

Enzo sighed again, "I hate you."]

Lorenzo looked at the cop for approval to pick him up, the man just nodded. Enzo picked Axel up off the ground and threw him over his shoulder, holding onto his legs. Axel giggled like a child and waved at everyone in their cells, really selling the idea that he was completely nuts.

He put him back on his feet when they were at the front entrance to leave but still held onto his hand. Outside the rain had stopped but there were camera flashes, and lots of them.

Enzo frowned, "The fuck?"

"Looks like it's the paparazzi, wonder if there's some celebrity in here. Oooh what of it's Beyonce and she got arrested?" Axel excitedly clapped his hands, jumping up and down in delight.

Enzo rolled his eyes, "The queen could never be some common bitch of a criminal, of course she's not here, it's probably someone else. Let's put on our mean faces and get to the car."

Axel nodded and opened the door. They walked out and suddenly, the camera flashes multiplied by a thousand. The two of them shook it off, maybe there was someone behind them. They continued walked hand in hand, Axel still hand that ridiculous smile on his face and the blood on his forehead.

"Mr. Stark, I didn't know you had a twin!"

"Mr. Stark, what have you been doing all these years? No one has seen you in ten years."

Axel's eyes grew the size of saucers and he pushed Enzo to walk faster. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my name's Lorenzo. Who is this Mr. Stark you speak of?"

"Liar! We got a tip. You look like a young Latino Tony Stark without the goatee."

Lorenzo grew angry and spat at on of them, "If you step in front of me again, I will run you over."

They finally made it to Enzo's car and jumped in quickly. The assholes were banging on the windows and the hood of the car. Enzo looked them right in the eye and started the car, inching forward, he nudged one of them, giving them all the idea that, maybe, he wasn't kidding about running them over, sending them all running off to the side. Enzo sped off down the street.

***************

They got home at six, and Enzo barged into the loft like a man in a mission. Axel just wondered off to the bathroom to clean himself up and get a change of clothing, when he came back he found Enzo sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone with a look of rage painted on his face.

"What crawled up your ass?"

Enzo snapped his head in his brothers direction and his scowl got even more scowl-y, "Because of your little stunt, someone in the precinct tweeted,"Looks like baby Stark turned out to be a drug addict, who would've thought." then there's a video of you shouting about the apes. Please tell me this occupation of yours was worth it. And tell me what this occupation of yours is."

Axel fiddled with his hands, "There was someone in the cell with me I needed to send a message to, so yes it was worth it. And you already know exactly what I do, you're not as stupid as you want me to think."

Lorenzo nodded in understanding, he looked at the phone again, "We should have this asshole's head in a pike. We can do it, just one little phone call. They called you a drug addict, when it clearly looks like you've had a mental breakdown. They had to taser you four times?"

Axel grabbed the phone out of Enzo's hand and read it over, a mischievous grin grew on his face, "We should totally fuck with them. How does this sound?" He started typing something , "You're laughing now, but when the rabid monkeys take over the world, you're gonna be sorry you're not in my bunker." Send tweet. "Planet of the Apes foretold the events of the future, us humans will have to fight the monkeys." Send tweet. "They tried to trick me into taking medication so the aliens could probe me." Send tweet. "God is an alien, he told me so when he kicked me out of his spaceship. He told me the Apes are coming." Send tweet .

Lorenzo pinched his nose, "Jesus fucking christ."

Axel refreshed the page and whistled, "This bitch is getting roasted, the replies are coming in. They're defending me, I like this one, "Axel Stark is bipolar you ignorant ass. How could you even say that?" this one is also very nice, "Axel, I hope you get the help you need. People like this disgust me." God , I love Twitter."

Enzo snatched the phone away from him and read through the replies he huffed and shook his head, "That problem is solved. You have to appear in court on Monday at ten thirty."

Axel waved him off, "I have lawyers, I've got that covered. They got me out of much worse."

"You also have to see a psychiatrist, the cops think you need to up your dosage."

"I haven't taken those things since I was nineteen, I can guarantee I don't need to up the dosage. Great thing about being half dead." Axel plopped down on the couch opposite of Enzo.

Lorenzo looked across at him, "What are you talking about? What was that thing with the axe then? Or all those months you spent starving yourself? Or all those times you actually killed yourself?"

"First time I took acid, never again. I don't actually need to eat to survive and I was busy that entire month with my client. And I just wanted to see how long I could hold my breath, three minutes baby!" Axel fist pumped with a bright smile on his face."Yes!"  
  
Enzo clenched his fists and flared at his unsuspecting brother, "What else haven't you told me?"

"I started practicing voodoo after we left New Orleans, I stole all of grandmas spell books. I sell evil people's souls to the dead voodoo priests and priestess, when they die they are not gonna have any fun at all. Those dead people are insane, I met them once, they sacrificed a wailing woman to the devil and ate her heart. That was fucking metal."

"You sacrifice people?" Lorenzo sat down and buried his face in his hands.

Axel's face scrunched up, "Ew, no. Mostly just use snakes and rodents, sometimes I use the person's blood but not enough to kill them. Also, the dead voodoo priests and priestess have me evil people radar, I can see what they did and choose if I should get their soul or not. And I met Lucifer, he moved to L.A. a few months ago, he's really cool and he plays jazz sometimes."

Lorenzo was so done with Axel, he was tired, mentally and physically, he rubbed his temples in an attempt to stop the on coming headache. Axel lost his train of thought and wondered off to the kitchen to get waffles.

"Jesus fucking Christ." He whispered under his breath.

 

 


	25. Chapter 25

Tony was not pleased at all, first, he starts getting phone calls at the ass crack of dawn, second, his phone start blowing up with notifications from Twitter, showing him a video of his son going off in a police station and he had to here the story from E! News, with pictures of both of them leaving the station, before his own sons. Axel got arrested, again. Neither Axel nor Enzo were answering there phones or any of his texts. 

He barged out of his workshop to find Bucky or Steve, eventually finding both of them, standing in front of the television in their living room. It was the news again, with video footage from the police station. 

"Do either of you know what's going on? Axel's not answering the phone." Tony inquired, neither of the super soldiers looked away from the screen.

"He told me it was business related, someone got away with murder or something. He's a really good actor, did you see the video? Why the hell is he a writer again?" Bucky answered, Steve nudged him.

"Priorities Buck."

"Right, he's fine. He's trolling people on Twitter, called out the person who recorded the video by acting crazy, you should see it, it's hilarious. Spoke people are coming up with theories about Lorenzo, they're all insane." 

The elevator pinged and opened, stepping out of it was the man of the hour. Axel looked oblivious to the situation, walking in wearing all black, Tony almost mistook him for Enzo, if not for the ridiculous mermaid tattoo on his neck. Axel made eye contact with Tony and smiled a big smile. Tony notice the large gash above his left eyebrow and noticed he was wearing bandages on his knuckles. 

"Dad! I had the best night. I got arrested again, also I need Dr. Foster's number. She's gonna be so disappointed." 

"First off, Axel, what the hell?" Tony asked incredulously, he was in full mom mode with the stance, his hands on his hips and that look on his face that could kill a thousand men. Axel froze, wide eyed and gulped, he was in big trouble.

"Distraction. I was the distraction, it was like Ocean's eleven, but just two Oceans, and I was the distraction. My, colleague, and I hijacked something from the police station." He blurted out, Tony had only ever gave him that look once in his life after he got kicked out of private school when he was seventeen. 

"What?" Tony started tapping his foot and crossed his arms.

"Oh god." He whispered under his breath, his eyes found Bucky and Steve, silently begging them to help him but Tony was having none of it, he snapped his fingers in Axel's face.

"Don't look at them, they can't help you, look at me. Answer the question, what did you take?"

"What is more important, is what we planted, a bug, in the server room to collect evidence. There's a small, ish, group of maybe dirty cops that keep making trouble in a small neighbourhood in Brooklyn. Someone, uh, called me yesterday and, Manny volunteered to help me. I made a fake account on Twitter, and tweeted the thing to draw attention away from him." Axel twiddled his thumbs and looked away from Tony.

"But what did you take, you said you hijacked something, I know you, you word everything precisely. Come on, what did you take? I'm not gonna get mad, promise."

"Keep in mind that Manny has very sticky fingers, it's been a problem for him since birth. I had nothing to do with this, at all, it was not my idea. Not even a little bit. I did not put him up to it at all, not even a casual mention." Axel purposely rambled on, hoping that his dad would drop it.

"Spit. It. Out." Tony sounded very angry.

"Like, three boxes of pastries and a little bit of pot. I told him it would be funny to steal the donuts, I didn't say anything about the pot." 

Tony raised an eyebrow, "Are you serious?" He sounded surprised, like, genuinely surprised that this was the answer he had gotten. Bucky and Steve continued pretending that they were watching t.v. and not eavesdropping.

"Yes, my stash is full, I didn't need it, so I let him keep it. Early birthday present. And I brought you all cronuts, they're chocolate." Axel held a paper bag in front of him that Tony only just noticed.

"Did you at least get what you needed? I don't want Pepper killing me for a lost cause." Tony grabbed the bag.

"Of course I got what I needed, if I hadn't I would still be there, screaming and punching the wall, getting tased, that actually feels really nice, it's like someone is tickling you with a thousand tiny knives." Axel rambled on again.

Tony snapped his fingers in his face again, "Axel focus. You've hit your head too many times, you may have brain damage."

"Right, arrests should be made tonight. Stacey is on the job, she may be a better hacker than you and she's only twenty."

"That's good. I don't want you doing this ever again, you hear me. This is his like when you were seventeen and got kicked out for walking around the school naked."

"That's exactly what I was thinking about. Our minds are somehow linked, it was worded exactly like that in my head. We, are mind buddies." Axel moved to touch Tony's head but initially got his hands slapped away.

"You're spending way too much time with Enzo's boyfriend." The way he didn't even say Wade's name made Axel laugh.

"I gonna go take a nap, toodles." Axel walked away and disappeared down the corridor.

"You know sometimes I wonder, why didn't I have more kids? And then he does something like this and I'm like, never mind." Tony collapsed onto the couch next to Steve and sighed.

"It could be worse, he could be a drug addict, or a serial killer, or child molester." Steve listed.

"I get it Steven." 

"I'm sure this will blow over in a few weeks. No one's gonna remember this come Christmas, guaranteed." Steve held Tony's hand and squeezed it in a reassuring manner.

"With Puppy in there, I doubt it." 

"Yeah, Steve's right, give it a few weeks."

***************

*Six Weeks Later*

"I'm going to kill you Axel, this is your fault. If you hadn't pulled that little stunt, no one would have ever found out how we looked now and that crazy man wouldn't have taken us." Lorenzo snarled at Axel, trying to break out of his bonds, they were flame retardant and strong as hell. Axel was on the opposite of him chained to a steel wall trying to recover from whatever the hell, the crazy, glowing man, injected him with.

"How the hell was I supposed to know this crazy, hot dude, had it out for dad? What the fuck, was in that needle? My skin is on fire." Axel did not look good at all, he was sweating puddles and out of breath.

"I'm gonna miss Christmas because of you." 

Axel cried out in pain, more like a half growl, half screech, his eyes turned deep red for the sixth time since they woke up. He pulled on the chains frantically trying to get out of them. Both his hands were chained and at his sides.

"Stop screaming! It's annoying, you can't die but I can, I think. I don't know I haven't tried anything, I'm not like you. I'm sure dad is on his way to save us." 

Axel gasped in pain, "Fuck you! Fuck! You! I'm gonna send that fucker to hell when I get my hands on him." Axel screamed again, "I can't take this anymore." Tears were running down his face, mixing in with the sweat.

"Moving is only going to make it worse. We can't do anything at this point, just relax." It was like they switched bodies or something, Lorenzo was chilled out and Axel was pissed. Axel cut him a look that almost made him recoil in fear.

"I'm gonna come across there and snap your fucking neck!" Axel collapsed onto his knees and cried his eyes out, his tan skin was starting to turn red, "I can't take this anymore." Every time he breathed it burned more. Axel sat down resting his head against the steel wall, and threw his head back against it, as hard as possible. A loud thud echoed through the room.

Enzo rolled his eyes, "Typical."

Axel threw his head back again and again, until his skull cracked and he sagged, blood ran down his face and there was blood painting the wall behind his where his head had been.

"Drama queen." Enzo whispered under his breath. It had been a few minutes since he stopped breathing, which was not normal, Axel usually got up in the first minute after his heart stopped, but it had been four minutes and he was getting antsy.

"Axel? Axel stop playing. Axel this isn't funny. Stop it!" Axel's body didn't move, "Axel, get up, you asshole!" Still nothing. "Axel!?"

Axel gasped awake, and Enzo breathed in relief, his face wet with tears. Axel turned his head and puked up an orange liquid that burned through the steel of the floor. He dry heaved for a few more minutes and sat back against the wall. He was still out of breath, he tried saying something but Enzo could barely make out what it was.

"What the fuck are you trying to say?"

"Four. Minutes. Baby." Axel breathed out with a smug look on his sweaty face.

Lorenzo realised what he was saying and his face twisted in anger, "I'm gonna kill you!"

Axel laughed breathy, like he was still in pain, "You were crying! Awe, I love you to."

"Fuck! You!"


	26. Chapter 26

"Can't you use your voodoo shit to get us out of here? My arms are starting to cramp." Lorenzo rolled his wrists in the metal cuffs to release some of the tension. 

"Yes, master." Axel answered mockingly, Enzo cut him a look and he rolled his eyes, "Doesn't work like that. I need blood and not mine." 

"Well you're not getting mine either." 

"Then break your thumbs if you wanna get out so bad." 

"I'm gonna break your fucking neck if you don't stop being such a smartass." 

Axel scoffed, "Typical, you always go the violent route when you're annoyed, for once, can't you be like, chill and just walk away or something. You can melt the damn thing if you get hot enough." 

"And you could break the chains of you actually tried, you punched that big ass alien last year and sent it back through the hole. I once saw you lift a bus a throw it, we could both get out of here if we actually tried." Enzo raised his eyebrow , "So what's the problem?"

"I don't know." Axel shrugged.

"Okay then. On three." Axel nodded, "One. Two. Three."

The chains fell off of Axel after one pull, but Enzo was at his hottest and nothing happened. 

"They're like, insanely heat resistant. Maybe they had a lot of hot people burn through the chains." Axel wondered.

Lorenzo shot him a deadpan look, "Just get over here and help me." 

"Okay, jeez. What crawled up your ass, Hades?" Axel broke his cuffs and he rubbed his wrists. Axel picked up the heavy chains and ripped them out of the wall to use as weapons.

"If the chains are heat resistant, then this entire box is, which means you have to do all the work." Enzo gestured to the door, "Get to it." 

"You are even worse out of my head. Can't you just say something less commanding? You could have said, "Axel, you're our only hope at a chance of getting out of this hellish prison." I would have appreciated that much more."

Enzo rolled his eyes again, "Shut up, and punch a fucking hole in the wall, you tired bitch." 

Axel gaped at him and huffed, he dropped the chains, when he realised he was a walking reverse uno card, and went to the door. "You need to get laid." Axel punched the door once, causing it to fly off its hinges.

Cautiously, Axel peeked his head out to see if the coast was clear but got shot in the dead centre of his head. The wound healed and the drop of a body was heard from his left. He looked across to see, two guards and a dead body.

"How's it going?" He fully stepped out with his hands in the air, he motioned to Enzo to stay put, "This could get really messy, you don't want to die for some hot headed idiot now, do you?"

The two men shot at him, hitting him in the chest twice and once in the head. They both dropped like flies and Axel gasped, looking at his pink t-shirt that now had two holes in it, "This was Gucci you fuck. I spent like eight hundred dollars on this shirt." 

"Are you seriously complaining about your shirt right now?" Lorenzo stepped out of the steel room.

"Yes, it was limited edition, they only sold fifty and all are gone." 

Enzo sighed. He looked around to see where they were, it looked like the basement of some really old building. He ran to the window, "I can see the beach." 

"Oh Christ. I really hope we're not in Florida." 

"Let's focus on getting out of here." Enzo looked for an exit. Axel found the door and opened it, "Axe, wait there could be..." 

Four guys stood on the other side, all in suits, all carrying guns. They snapped their heads toward his direction and almost caught him, prompting him to shut the door sheepishly. "I feel like I'm doing all the work, I don't want anymore holes in my shirt, so you deal with them."

Enzo folded his arms across his chest, "You shirt is already fucked, I don't want to burn my clothes. You do it." 

"Are you serious?" 

"Dead serious." The petulant look on his face said it all, causing Axel to roll his eyes. He searched for something in the room to use as a projectile and found a wooden chair knocked over in the corner. He broke it up into six pieces, threw two of them at Enzo and tucked three of them under his left arm. 

Axel kicked down the door, catching the guards' attention. Axel threw one of the chair pieces at a guard and it hit him in his torso, he threw another and missed but the man shot him in the neck, which went right back at him. The third guy shot Axel in the head and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, Axel threw the third piece at the last guy and hit him in the eye dropping him instantly.

"You can come out now, dick face." 

Lorenzo waltzed out of the room and walked ahead of Axel, "We have the same face, so you just insulted yourself." 

Axel frowned, "Curly headed bitch."

**************

The brothers strolled through the house, or whatever the hell they were in, trying to find a way out. Axel had like forty extra holes in his top and Lorenzo was fucking spotless. They were looking for a way out of the maze they were in, they came across a door, like the fiftieth door they came across, Enzo looked at Axel and motioned to the door.

"Fucking asshole." He didn't even get close to the door before it swung open and a guard ran through, as soon as he saw them, his eyes grew wide and he put his hands up in surrender.

"Please don't hurt me. I quit, I swear. I don't even like these people." Axel nodded his head and let the man through, he looked back at Enzo who shrugged.

"Check it out."

Axel huffed and walked into the room, while Enzo waited in the hallway. He looked around and saw Tony in his Iron man suit, a large grin grew on his face, "Dad!" 

This startled Tony and he almost shot Axel, "What the fu...!" 

****************

The Stark family stood in the midst of a blazing fire, watching it all burn down, wherever they were. The three of them were beat, and tired, Axel being the only one who didn't have any cuts or bruises or burns. Enzo's clothes full of burn holes and covered in ashes, Tony had cuts in his face and soot everywhere.

"I say that went well." Axel wondered out loud, he looked between the two who were dog tired and ready to drop. They both shot him a look that told him to shut up or else. Axel shrugged, "The president is fine, no one important died and Enzo got rid of that Killian guy. I've won battles with far more losses than this, everything might be on fire but...no buts, actually that's it."

Lorenzo and Tony both groaned, "Please. Please be quiet. I'm begging you." 

"You guys look tired." Axel observed.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I'm gonna sleep for three weeks after this." Enzo collapsed on the ground and groaned.

"Maybe next Christmas will be better, hopefully no one dies before then." 

***************

December 18th, 2014

"You have stage four cancer in your liver, lungs, prostate and brain. There is nothing we can do for you, it's too large to remove and the procedure may kill you. I'm sorry Mr. Wilson." 

"Son of a bitch." Lorenzo whispered under his breath.


	27. Chapter 27

"I don't know what you want me to say, I told both of you Wade smelled different and he should go to the doctor, but you called me an idiot and he said he felt fine. Not my problem."

Axel was in line at a Starbucks and the girl in front of him, who heard the entire conversation have him a look of disgust. Axel raised his eyebrow at her which made her look away.

"This is not the time Axel. The doctor gave him a couple months, he's one of your best friends how could you be so cold. He's dying."

It was his turn to order, "Hold on." He moved the phone from his ear, "Can I get a hot chocolate, soy milk, venti, two pumps of that mocha thing and two of the white mocha thing and extra whipped cream, none of that chocolate drizzle."

"Name." The barista sounded so monotone and bored, and looked like he was begging him not to have a weird name.

Axel smiled, "Axel, A-x-e-l. If you spell it wrong I will not tip you," he looked at the boy and smiled a fake smile which had very sinister undertones.

"That will be $4.75." 

"Axel you asshole, did you even hear me? Wade's dying. You know who that is right, your friend Wade, the one who you've lived with for five years, the one who had to put up with your shit and still decided to stay and help you." Lorenzo was shouting and crying through the phone and Axel, frankly couldn't be bothered.

"Lorry, would you shut the fuck up, Wade isn't going to die. I told you he smelt sick not that he was dying, he still has a few more decades left. I don't know how that's gonna work now, but the number hasn't changed." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Hot chocolate for Axel!" 

"Brb. Thank you very much." Axel checked his name and it was correct for the first time. He pulled out one hundred dollars, "Good boy, thank you Brian."

"Where are you?" 

"Starbucks, they have the best hot chocolate out here, and that's saying something cause it's shit. I miss my coffee shop. Maybe we should expand to L.A. these people really need it, probably why everyone here is always so depressed, they've never had good hot chocolate. You know what I'm gonna do that, it's good for business, we make people happy and more people get jobs. I am so smart."

"Axel you're rambling again. What did you mean earlier? About Wade not dying yet?" 

"I already told you too much, only because I wanted to get you off my back. But I can assure you, he is gonna be fine." Axel walked to his jeep, slowly sipping his drink. "I'm gonna be out here for a few more weeks, filming is wrapping next week, but I still have some shit to do." 

"You still haven't told me what it's about, which never happens. What is this thing about? It can't be good cause you wrote it in two days, and you're in it. Is it one of those really shitty movies that had no business being made?" Axel could hear the snide time he was taking, obviously he was joking.

"Its a horror and that's all I'm telling you. You're gonna have to watch it for yourself, I was going to tell you but you just hurt my feelings. And I did not write it two days, I've been working on it for years, it's that thing you found when you thought I was going crazy." 

"Huh. I still think you're going crazy."

"Whatever, I need to go now so, bye. Good luck with the whole cancer thing, I'm probably gonna call you tomorrow or maybe next week, who knows." Axel started the jeep.

"I probably won't pick up, you know how busy it gets when you're an Avenger, bad guys everywhere."

"You guys haven't really had anyone to fight since the blob thing, who are you trying to fool, Lorry, I watch the news. If you're bored there's an art gallery three blocks away from where you live, everything is gothic style, you'll love it. Anyways, Axel out." He hung up the phone and threw it in the passenger seat, he put the hot chocolate in the cup holder and drove off.

**************

Axel made it back home the second week in January, Lorenzo had been calling him non stop about Wade, everyday he called and all Axel could do is listen and mutter, uh huh, every once in a while. He didn't know what Enzo wanted him to do, if he couldn't find his own boyfriend how the hell was Axel supposed to do it, on the other side of the country. 

Apparently, Wade left a couple days after his diagnosis and Enzo had been freaking out ever since. Axel, having never studying how to deal with human emotions, turned his phone off a few days prior, so he could enjoy the last few days of his time in L.A. before he had to go back.

He pulled up to June's cafe on his motorbike and switched it off. As soon as he got onto the sidewalk, Axel felt as if someone was following him, as expected, when he looked back no one was there, but, he knew exactly who it was based on their smell. Axel smiled.

"Wade, you can come out you know. You don't have to hide from me." It took a while, but he patiently waited there for a few minutes, until a hooded figure emerged from the shadows. 

He his hid face with the hood and all Axel could see was his lips, "Uh, hey Axe. Funny running into you here, at your coffee shop, of all places, isn't that crazy?"

"Very crazy." Axel answered sarcastically , "Do you want cookies? Maybe you can tell me why you disappeared right before Christmas and why you're hiding your pretty face."

Wade hesitated, but eventually gave in and followed Axel into the shop. Axel greeted the cashier and the barista at the counter, before ordering for both of them, while Wade took the seat in the darkest corner of the shop, it was night time, so not many people were in. 

Axel came to the table holding two mugs and a plate piled with chocolate cookies. He rest one mug in front of Wade and the other on his side, placing the cookies in the centre of the table. 

"I take it turning into a superhero didn't pan out how you wanted it to?" 

"I'm not even going to ask you how you know that, but no it didn't, Francis fucked my face. I look like fucking Freddy Krueger." 

"I don't know about you but, when I was a teenager, I really wanted to fuck Freddy Krueger, so you're not making a great argument right now. Besides I've seen much worse than Freddy, one time this guy tried to shoot himself in the face, but he didn't die and his jaw was hanging off his face and there blood everywhere, it was awesome."

Axel was so into the story he didn't realise Wade had taken off his hood so when he looked across the table his words died in his throat, "Holy shit."

"Exactly." Wade looked down in at the table, taking Axel's reaction as a bad one.

"You look like the world's hottest burn victim. It isn't even that bad, you still have your eyes and your lips and your nose. You just lost all your hair and got wrinkly. As I said, I've seen so much worse." Axel sipped his beverage, "But, I must say. This new look is kinda turning me on, if you weren't taken, I would take you to my place and we could cuddle while watching The British Bake Off, with my cookie scented candles lit, of course." 

That made the man smile slightly but he soon wiped it off his face and buried his head in his hands, "Lorenzo is not gonna like me like this, I can't handle him looking at me like everyone else who's seen this ugly mug. I made a kid cry." 

"My brother may be a bit of a dick and an emotional wreck sometimes, but he will kill you, with fire, and me. I don't like getting burnt up, it hurts. And he's not that shallow, he won't run away and dump you." Axel shrugged, "Probably."

"You're not helping." Wade broke a cookie and dipped it into his hot chocolate, "Besides, I'm gonna find Francis and make him fix this, then I'm gonna go to Lorenzo, and kiss him so hard, his lips fall off."

"That's if he doesn't kill you first, I'm mean, he's gonna be pretty fucking pissed." 

"The less time I'm away, the faster I get back to him. So you have to help me find Francis. Please."

Axel thought about it and shrugged, "Yeah sure. Are you gonna at least call him, even a text? Do I tell him?"

"No, it would make the urge to go see him so much worse, and no, you cannot tell him, we are in this together. If I get killed, you get killed."

"Neither of us can actually die, so that statement means nothing. But sure, my lips are sealed. I have a girl who could help you track Francis, but I'm not gonna be able to help you all the time. Do you need anything? I'll give you a place to stay and access to Stacey, but you're on your own after that."

"I've got weapons under control and the supersuit and, I got a name." Wade wiggled his eyebrows, "Deadpool."

Axel looked so unimpressed, "You stole the name from the dead pool at Sister Margaret's, that is very unoriginal. What? Do you have an animated green suit now? Is there katana coming out of your knuckles to? Are you gonna go fight Wolverine? Are you gonna sew your mouth shut now? Please do." 

Wade banged his fist on the table, he looked so offended, "First of all, how dare you bring up those sad times in my life? Why did you have to even mention that good awful green suit? I'm just gonna wear a ski mask and whatever I have to wear." 

Axel sighed, "Oh god no. I will not have you running around like that, I have your measurements, I will have your suit by next week. Do you have a preferred colour scheme?"

"Maybe white, throw some blue in there..." Wade rambled on and on, until Axel shushed him with a finger on the lips.

"Be quiet raisin face, I'll deal with that to. Here is Stacey's number, call her and tell her "MoFat" she knows what it means."


	28. Chapter 28

Axel could hear the police sirens wailing behind him as he tried his best to get away on his motorbike. They caught him, earlier that night, trying to cave a guy's head in with a baseball bat - the same bat said man tried to jump two gay guys with - the police passed at that time and saw the man, bleeding out on the ground, and Axel got on his bike and rode away.

Luckily, Axel was wearing his helmet so they didn't know who it was, but it seemed like the police got better drivers and he couldn't really shake them. He was winding through traffic, taking shortcuts and narrow roads and they were still behind him.

Axel growled, "I'm gonna kill em." 

"Absolutely not young man, they are just doing their job." A stern female voice came from his helmet which startled him so much he almost crashed.

"What the fuck? Who's that?" 

"This is your conscience speaking, Mr. Stark installed me into the motorbike when you came to get it tweaked a few weeks ago. Every time you go to do something questionable, I will stop you." 

Axel scoffed, "How do you think you can stop me?" 

"By reasoning with you and making you feel guilty, I am here to help you find your morals. After the sexual assault guy, Mr. Stark thinks you need me." 

Axel made a sharp right turn into oncoming traffic, hoping it would deter the police but it didn't. The cars parted like the red sea and the cops kept coming. 

"I know exactly where my morals are lady, I don't need you. Out of all the pigs back there, only three of them have a good soul, I spare those ones and kill the rest. Their death date is coming soon anyway, I will make it quick." 

"I will have to contact Mr. Stark if you hurt anyone."

Axel jumped off the bike, "Who cares?" He grabbed it by the handle bars, lifted it and chucked it at at the police car in front, the man tried to turn to get out of the way, but the bike hit the side of the car anyway. This caused a small barrier to be made and the other cars behind him crashed into him. 

Axel looked around for something else to throw and spotted a man in a yellow sports car, he saw the black of his soul, but the timer said three years. Axel ran over to him and yanked the car door off, he pulled the man out of the car and dropped him on the asphalt. Axel picked up the car and threw it at the police cars, it landed on the other side on the first police car, this time blocking the rest from coming through.

Axel picked up his bike from where it fell and climbed on. "See, no one got hurt." He ran over the sports car guy's leg and heard him scream in in pain, "Except maybe that guy." 

"I still have to report to Mr. Stark, from my scans, two officers have concussions and one has a broken leg."

"Don't care computer lady." 

"Mr. Stark named me, Valantina." 

Axel hummed, "After my mother? He targeted the wrong brother, Enzo is the one who wanted to meet her. I say, why grieve someone you've never met." 

"She gave birth to you." 

"Not my problem, I'm not wasting my time crying over someone I've never met. I didn't know her, I've heard stories but I don't know her. She could've turned out to be the worst mother in the world or the best but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't know her." 

He could hear her humming in his ear, "That is very sad." 

Axel rolled his eyes, "You can go away now. Don't think I'm gonna kill anyone tonight." 

"Goodbye."

Axel pulled up to Wade's place and parked in the dark alley next to it. He got off and pulled off his helmet, walking up the stairs he got a call from Lorenzo - maybe to nag him about Wade again - he declined the call. Axel knew he was a bad brother, but he can't lie to Enzo, his brother knew all of his tells, talking to him would raise suspicion and he already promised Wade he wouldn't tell anyone.

He opened the door to find Wade on the couch jerking off, Axel rolled his eyes and kicked the door slamming it. Wade looked at him.

"Oh hey Axe." He didn't stop what he was doing at all, "Staying here tonight?"

"Yep, cops chased me too far from the tower and it's almost midnight." Axel peeled off the black bomber jacket and the t-shirt, he kicked the boots off and it left him in his pants and socks. He made his way to the kitchen.

"Thanks for the suit by the way, I'm still a little creeped out that you have my exact measurements. Did you take them when I was sleeping?"

Axel found a box of pizza rolls and popped them in the microwave, "I've been shopping for years and I have worked with costumes designers, it isn't that hard to get someone's measurements just by looking."

"Is that another super power? I think three is enough."

"I don't have super powers, there is nothing super about me. I was born half demon, murdered and now I'm full demon. I am no super anything, I'm not even human." The microwave beeped, Axel took out the pizza rolls and went to sit on the couch with Wade, who was finished by now but still naked.

"I think you're pretty super, all those people in your buildings would say the same thing, then there's all the sick people in the clinic, the cafes and the diners, underrated actors, film crews, writers." Wade frowned, "What haven't you done?" 

"I want to threaten the CEO of that pharmaceutical company that over charges poor people for medication they need to live. I want to scare the politicians into changes certain laws so that kids could go to school and not worry about someone coming to shoot them. I want all evil people to drop dead. I really want religious people to stop being cunts most of all, I want them to know that God doesn't give a shit of they praise him, as long as they don't do things for selfish or immoral reasons they're gonna go to the sky. Do you know how many of those bible humpers I've seen screaming at me in hell?" 

"How many?" Wade asked curiously.

"There's more atheists in heaven than there are religious people. Sad thing is, is that most of the idiots still scream at God or Grandad, telling them they don't belong there." 

"Am I going to hell?" 

"I don't know. You aren't dead yet. I've seen everything that you have done and everything that has happened to you, you are a good man with shit luck and shit taste in food. These pizza rolls are disgusting."

Wade snatched the plate from Axel, "They're for me not you."


	29. Chapter 29

"Could you at least text him. He keeps calling me, asking if I felt you die or if I've seen you at all and I keep lying, and normally I wouldn't give a shit, but it's starting to get really annoying and I don't think I can take it anymore." 

Wade's sounds of struggle came and Axel looked across at him as the mercenary tried to fight off multiple henchmen at once, "Shut up and help me."

Axel ignored him, "Lying to my brother, my friend, is horrible. There is this feeling that keeps eating away at me every time I do it. I don't know what it's called but it is not very pleasant."

"You fucking cock juggler, get over here and help me."

Axel looked across at him, "You'll be fine." 

"Axel!" 

Axel sighed and pushed up off the wall, he fixed his face mask and walked out of the shadows holding up the gun Wade gave him and shooting who ever. He accidentally hit Wade in the eye with the last shot but shrugged it of when he remembered Wade's condition.

*******

"Sometimes I wonder, am I a bad brother or am I a good friend and I like to focus on the positives, but I haven't spent three hours with my brother in this entire month because I don't want to be a bad friend, but then I realise, I'm being a bad brother." 

The gun fight in the background got louder and louder as Wade struggled with the twenty or so henchmen. Axel sat atop a washing machine, leaning back on his hands as he rambled on and on.

"Axel! Now is not the time!" 

***********

"But when is the right time, we've been looking for Francis for months and nothing. Lorenzo is starting to get suspicious and that feeling is back again. I went to a therapist and she told me it was guilt I was feeling, guilt. I'm such a bad person, I didn't even what guilt felt like."

Axel sat next to Wade in a zamboni as he followed the man crawling away on the ice, "You actually went to a therapist?"

"Not really, I googled it and it lead me to this website. Apparently, I also maybe a sociopath, who knew?" Axel kicked his feet up, "Can't this thing go any faster, I'm tired of hearing that little bitch cry."

"Who knew? Everyone knew. Even strangers who talked to you once, knew." 

"Huh. Maybe I should work on that." 

**********

"I worked on it. Empathy is really hard. How the hell do normal people do that? Feel things. I tried to empathise with Enzo and all I could do was focus on how ugly he looked when he was crying, it's insane." 

"A little help here!" They were hiding behind an overturned SUV on the highway, well Wade was hiding, Axel was standing and leaning against the undercarriage of the vehicle, his head in clear view of the shooters and he was already shot three times.

The fourth time and he snapped, "Hey! I'm trying to have a conversation here, would you fuck off!" 

*********

"If your dick got cut off, would it grow back? I think it would, cause your hand is growing back, but does that just mean limbs. Would your dick just not grow back? Maybe we should try it."

Wade stopped jerking himself and pulled out his sword, pointing it at Axel, "If you touch my dick, I'm gonna stop talking to you."

"Jeez, it was just a question, there is no need for such hostility." Wade went back to what he was doing and Axel turned to the television, "I think we're too comfortable with each other, maybe we should have boundaries. The therapy website I found said friends shouldn't do things like this together, or in each other's presence." 

"This is a common occurrence and neither of us feel uncomfortable about it, maybe you should keep off that website. You haven't been yourself since you found it." 

"I'm trying to fit in with the humans, I found that not many people feel welcomed around me. I don't want anyone uncomfortable around me." 

"Fuck them! I'm case you haven't noticed, I feel very comfortable around you. Don't change yourself for people who don't matter, I like you just the way you are, so does Bucky and Steve and your dad and Enzo, maybe Manny."

Axel looked across at Wade, "Thanks Wade." His phone rang in that moment, and he frowned when he looked at the I.D, he answered anyway "Axe man speaking...you what? Amy stay where you are, I'll be right there...give me ten minutes. Don't do anything stupid until I get there."

Axel got up, grabbed his maroon leather jacket and his bike helmet and took off, leaving Wade confused. "Goodbye I guess."

**********

Axel pulled up to an abandoned warehouse in the least populated part of the city. It was dark and creepy and there one street light on. Axel looked around for Amy's car and sighed in relief when he saw the police cruiser's headlights flash twice. He ran to the car and opened the passenger door, getting in and leaving his helmet on.

They couldn't speak due to her having a body camera, and Axel knew she would get into trouble if the rest of the precinct knew she worked with him sometimes, so they spoke in sign language. Her brother was deaf so she knew it very well, and Axel got bored one weekend when he was twelve.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Axel signed.

"Followed the shipments, Mr. Clay should be in there, hopefully."

Axel got out of the car, "You coming in?" He signed when he shut the door and leaned forward in the door.

Amy shook her head, "Bullets don't hurt you but they hurt me, I'll stay out here and call it in when you're finished." 

Axel nodded his head and walked off, back to his bike to get his arsenal. No way he was ruining this jacket, it was his least favourite and the only one that didn't have blood on it.

Four fully loaded handguns, three very large knives, two grenades and one axe later, Axel was ready, he had one of the handguns ready and everything else was strapped to him. He kept the helmet on for anonymity and slipped on his black leather gloves.

His helmet beeped and a flash of blue appeared followed by that annoying voice, "Mr. Stark, if you go through with this and kill anyone I will have to call your father."

"Anyone who's not supposed to die tonight is not gonna die tonight, so why don't you fuck off, Fake Siri."

"It is my main function to warn you against this..."

"Mute." Axel walked up to the door and kicked it down, sending it flying down the corridor and straight through three armed henchmen cutting them in half. "Knock knock."

*************

Lorenzo was moping around with the t.v.on in the back ground. He was pissed drunk and still drinking, sitting on the floor surrounded by wine bottles, one in his hand.

"In breaking news, three containers of kidnap victims were found in a warehouse full of the bodies of human traffickers. The victims say they were rescued by an indestructible man wielding an axe, the police got to the scene an hour ago, after someone called in reporting gunshots..."

Lorenzo three the bottle of wine at the t.v. and broke it, "You can help strangers but not your own brother. Asshole." 

There was a knock on the door. Lorenzo frowned and got up stumbling towards the door to answer it, "What?"

"I'm looking for Lorenzo?" A bald man with a British accent and a creepy smile asked.


	30. Chapter 30

Lorenzo was waiting for Axel in an abandoned warehouse, exactly where his brother promised he would be with Francis tied up beside him and unconscious. Axel was seven minutes behind, which made him anxious, he was still tipsy from his night of drinking and jittery from the three coffees he drank an hour ago.

The heavy metal door slid open and a figure emerged from behind, it was too tall to be Axel so he hid behind one of the barrels and watched them.

"Axel?! I'm here! Where's that British motherfucker?" 

Lorenzo gasped when he heard that voice and stepped out from behind the barrel, "Wade?" 

Wade froze when he heard that voice, he recognized it instantly as it had been the centre of all of his nightmares lately when he pictured Enzo leaving him. He refused to turn around, he didn't want Enzo to see his scarred face.

"Wade?" Lorenzo's voice was closer, much closer and he felt a hand in his back. Wade jumped and tried to hide his face as much as possible, he didn't where his suit because Axel had taken it to fix it again, all he had was his hoodie.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"What am I doing here? That's what you say after almost two years? You left one day, not even a note, you just made me think you were dead. And then, this guy comes up to my place and tried to kidnap me, him and his girlfriend, I call Axel and then you show up. Meaning Axel knew all along and didn't say anything." Lorenzo was practically sobbing, he realised Wade still had his back to him, "Look at me." 

Wade was still frozen in place, he didn't know what to do but he did know one thing, Axel was a dead man. Wade sighed and slowly turned around with his head hung low, his face was hidden in the shadows of his hood and the fact that the warehouse was dimly lit also worked in his favour.

Lorenzo reached for the hood and Wade grabbed his hand, "Why won't you let me see you?"

"Something happened," he let out a shaky breath, "and I'm terrified of your reaction." 

"I once saw a guy with the bottom half of his face gone after he tried to kill himself with a shotgun, I think I can handle it." Wade still didn't let go of his wrist, "He was all teeth, just the top half, most of them were missing and there was blood everywhere and for some reason, he still had his tongue and it was wriggling around like the bottom half was still there." 

Wade's hand loosened a bit around his wrist, "That actually sounds kind of cool."

"It was. Also when we were teenagers, Axel and I had this massive crush on Freddy Krueger, we watched the entire series like eight times, Axel even had a picture of Freddy on his back right above his ass, but he got it replaced with that tattoo that we all know and hate." 

Wade nodded in agreement, "What is his deal with the leprechaun, he has like seven different tattoos about that God awful movie."

"Sixteen actually. He thought the movie was hilarious, he discovered it when we were eighteen, I have no idea why he likes it so much." 

Both of them chuckled lightly before settling into a comfortable silence. Wade removed his hand from Enzo's wrist and the let him remove the hood. To him, the silence was deafening as he waited for Enzo to react, he just looked down at the man as he studied his face. Enzo ran his right thumb over his deformed cheek and sighed.

"It's not so bad. Like the world's sexiest burn victim."

"I think that's exactly what Axel said, you two spent way too much time together."

A groan alerted both of them reminding Enzo that they weren't alone, "Right. I brought you a present." 

*************

"Murder, lots of murder. Add more blood, maybe I should have his guts all over the place? Is that too gory? It's a fucking murder mystery, anyone complains about the murder, they're cunts, add the guts." Axel typed away on his laptop, it was a new project he started, one to fill the loads of free time he now had, business had been slowing down over the last few weeks, which had been a great thing, but he was bored. 

Axel sat in his lounge chair on his balcony at the Avengers tower, shirtless with a joint between his lips, his glasses were perched on his nose and his hair was tied up in a bun, he was comfortable. The t.v.was on, providing background noise, showing the thousandth news article about his little escapade last night, they were calling him the Axe Demon, which was the coolest fucking thing. Lots of speculation.

Suddenly his phone rang, he guessed it was either Lorenzo or Wade telling him his plan worked perfectly, it had been seven hours since the meet was supposed to go down, hopefully meaning it went well.

"What?"

"I can't believe you fucking parent trapped me you asshole, I'm going to fuck you up next time I see you." Wade's voice rang through the phone.

"So it went well, I told you he wouldn't give a shit." 

"It went so well, the sex is so much better when he's not holding back, I got burnt like nine times but it was worth it. Are you coming over tonight?"

"Can't, my dad grounded me, I caused a bit of a disturbance last night and he got a little angry at me."

"How are you grounded? You're twenty-five."

"He made me put on a really nice bracelet and confiscated my motorbike, I can't leave for like three days or something, so I'm not gonna see you for three days." 

"You're under house arrest aren't you?"

"Basically."


	31. Chapter 31

Axel was standing in the middle of his room with his good clothes strewn all over his floor, he wore black leather pants with laces going up the side and a black and gold Victorian style military jacket, with no inside shirt. He had so many tattoos on his torso now, that it looked like he had on a t-shirt, all the freaky little drawings of leprechauns, skulls, mermaids, sea creatures and flowers painted a chaotic picture on his body that he couldn't help but admire. Along with the nipple piercings and the navel piercing.

"At first, I thought this little house arrest situation would be horrible, but now I can wear my good clothes when I don't have to worry about blood stains." He had his curls let loose around his shoulders, no bun, for the first time in weeks, and his feet were clad in his chunky heeled ankle boots.

"Axel, we're just going to fucking store to get milk." Bucky was sitting on his bed with his feet kicked up. 

Axel sighed, "I agree, the ankle boots are a bit much, I'll go with the Chuck Taylors."

"The jacket is still a bit much, maybe try the one Wade gave you, with the faux fur lining." 

Axel walked into his closet and came out with the pale pink jacket, "I knew there was a reason I liked you, this is perfect." 

****************

"How's Sam? I heard you two were doing the devil's tango." Axel casually browsed through the snack aisle, while Bucky picked up random snacks. 

"The what?" 

Axel looked at Bucky, "You know," he started thrusting his hips and making weird sex noises, "I don't know if I'm doing it right, I've never done this before, but I think you get it."

"God no, Sam deserves someone who's way less fucked up, I still find myself slipping, even after all these years, he doesn't need that." 

Axel picked up a bag of Doritos, "Sam deals with soldiers suffering from PTSD for a living James, he was a soldier, I'm sure he's got some trauma to. I think you should talk to the man instead of guessing what's best for him. I swear, you're exactly like my dad, he still hasn't grown balls and fucked Steve yet. I swear I'm gonna parent trap the both of you."

Bucky's eyes grew wide, "Don't you fucking dare."

Axel put his hands up and shrugged, "Whatever you say."

"Axel Stark." A deep raspy voice called out, Axel looked up and saw a tall brunette man. He was dressed in baggy pants and a large hoodie with holes by the collar.

"Can I help you?" 

"I'm here to kill you." That got him an eyebrow raise from both Axel and Bucky.

"May I ask why?"

"I am Cain, grandson of Lucifer the Lord of Hell, you do not deserve the kingdom of hell and I'm here to take it from you."

Axel snorted, "How many time did you rehearse that garbage in front of the mirror?" Axel dropped the bag of sour patch kids he had into the basket, "Nice to meet you, I guess, but could you kill me on some other day, like next tuesday, I don't want blood in my good jacket." 

Axel and Bucky moved pass Cain and they kept shopping, completely ignoring him. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at Axel's head.

"I'm not waiting, I've wanted this my entire life, but he says I'm not special enough, I don't have powers, I'm not immortal, I'm nothing like you, but I can show him that I'm just as special as you and the others." By the look on his face, Axel could see he was determined, he couldn't negotiate with the man, he was too far gone, he would pull that trigger no matter what he said, so Axel decided to be an asshole.

"That is seriously pathetic Cain, you are going to waste your life trying to prove you're special to one person, if he doesn't already think you're special then he's not fucking worth it. You could be out banging people or getting high, but you're here threatening an unarmed man because someone said you weren't special. Cry me a fucking river, you expect me to pity you and put my head on a fucking slab so you can cut it off and please your master? You can fuck off. Why don't you go crawl back up your mother and fucking die?" 

Cain had unshed tears in his eyes and his gun hand was trembling, he let out a sob and dropped the gun. Axel rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, Bucky was at the end of the aisle talking to someone on the phone, Axel took one step and he heard a gunshot go off. Turning his head, he looked at the dead body of Cain, with a bullet hole in his head, meaning he killed himself in the middle of a convenience store.

Axel rolled his eyes, "God I miss cocaine." They made it up to the clerk, "Jeff, call the cops. There's been a suicide in aisle nine."

*********** 

"He said he was a fan, something about wanting to fuck me or he would kill himself, I didn't actually think he was desperate enough to do that after I told him to fuck off." 

Axel leaned on the hood of a car while two uniformed officers questioned him about Cain's death, they didn't seem very happy with his nonchalant attitude toward the situation, the male kept telling him shit like, "Could you be more sensitive, some died" and the female just kept looking at him like he killed her dog.

"Why didn't you just agree to it and get him some help?"

"My body is a temple, sex does not happen in this temple, especially with people who think holey clothing is fashion, it's not fashion, it's disgusting. And he was a grown man, not my problem." 

The female rolled her eyes, "Of course Stark's kid is an asshole."

Axel stood up straight, "Are you implying that my dad is an asshole? I will have you know, that this fucking city wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him and his team. You would've been buried under the rumble of your tiny little one bedroom apartment if not for him and the Avengers. You wanna know how many times someone almost destroyed this city and all you pathetic little cunts, my dad almost died twice to protect to you sons of bitches, you don't disrespect him like that again or else I'll get you fired and you'll be eating three day old Chinese out of a fucking dumpster. Yes, I'm an asshole and its because of people like you, judgey little cock suckers, that think you're fucking floating above the rest of us, news flash, you're fucking not. My father is a national fucking treasure and I'll kick your teeth in if you talk shit again." 

He was straight up yelling in the lady's face, but not too close that she would feel threatened and try to shoot him or something. Their little spat attracted the reporters that gathered to get the scoop. Axel turned to the male cop, "Are you finished, or do you have more questions?" He shook his head.

Axel walked off to Bucky's car, where the man patiently waited in the driver's seat.

"What was that back there?"

"All of my cousins are trying to kill me to be a king, or queen. I turned down that position like three years ago, and dear old grand papi said it was cool, I don't know why the fuck they're all coming after me. I couldn't even take the position of I wanted, you have to die and go to hell to be the king of hell, you can't come back to earth. The closest I've ever been to hell is when my grandmother slit my throat, didn't even make it to the gates before I got pulled back."

Bucky frowned, "I meant with the cops."

"Oh, you know how it is. Haters gonna hate, just gotta, shake it off."

"Please stop quoting Taylor Swift." Bucky start the car and drove off.


	32. Chapter 32

"You've become far to numb to these kinds of things, a guy killed himself, in front of you and nothing. You brush it off like it's just a normal Wednesday. I'm worried, Axel."

"It's not my first suicide."

"That's the thing, you shouldn't have witnessed any suicides. You're twenty-seven, you should be out doing young people stuff, not dealing with unstable people blowing their brains out in front of you." 

Axel shrugged, "Shit happens, you either run from it or deal with it."

"Anyone who doesn't know you and saw the news, or even went online, think you're the biggest asshole in the world, just because you didn't react how they would have." Lorenzo was so angry he had steam coming from his ears, "God I hate people."

Axel shrugged again, "I'm used to it."

"And why did you have to comment on his tacky hoodie? You're feeding the assholes by acting like an even bigger asshole."

"Uh huh."

"Maybe, you should have a nicer approach to these kinds of things, maybe actually look sad when shit like this happens." Lorenzo looked across the cafe table at his brother, who was scrolling through his Stark pad and frowning, "What are you reading?"

"Manny sent me an e-mail about new clients and it's pissing me off." Axel handed him the tablet, "This rich white family fosters coloured kids, has been doing it for years. They abuse every one of the kids and have them working on their house, they don't feed the kids and have them sleeping in a mouldy basement. A former foster child of theirs tried to get them arrested, but it didn't stick and she disappeared shortly after. Her little brother came in a month ago. Manny and the others tried dealing with it themselves but the kids refuse to say anything. They only call me when it's seriously out of their hands."

Enzo scrolled through the email, "What are we gonna do about it?" 

The brown eyed man raised his eyebrow, "We?" 

"Yes, we. I need something to do, I have writer's block, but for artists, and I need something to occupy my brain. Where are we going?"

"Oakland, we're taking the jet tomorrow morning, we take off at ten thirty. You don't need to bring anything." Axel sipped his milkshake while Enzo finished reading the email.

"This guy is a registered sex offender."

"I saw." 

The green eyed man looked up at his brother, the tone of his voice and his mannerisms made warning bells go off on his head, "We're not killing these people, are we?" 

Axel had this look in his eyes that made Lorenzo's stomach turn, Axel smirked, "Of course not, but they're gonna wish they were." 

"Is that why Manny called you?"

"When we first started this, Manny didn't like that we always went the violent route first, so we compromised, him and his team would try the law and if that didn't work I would step in. They rarely call me, but I do love it when they do, gives me something to look forward to."

Lorenzo watched his brother eat the cake the old lady gave him, "Are you telling dad?"

"I already told him, he built fake Siri into this bracelet so I wouldn't go too far. I had to convince him not to send Steve with me, that would have been fucking horrible, so Bucky's coming instead. I have the snakes ready, and the tranquilizers."

"Hold the fuck up, did you say snakes?"

"Yes, I need blood to do the hex and you, and everyone else frown upon me using human blood, so, snakes."

Enzo rolled his eyes, "There is something so fundamentally wrong with you, you are the most sadistic, demented being I've ever met."

Axel smiled, "Thank you." 

******************

"Axel, please please, don't kill anyone, I beg you and try not to end up on the news again, I'm tired of hearing how unstable you might be." Tony had his hands on both of Axel's shoulders, giving him that motherly look he gave him when he was in trouble. Axel nodded, "Be careful. I know it's impossible for you to get hurt but please be careful."

"Dad, I'm going to be gone for a week, not six years. Now that you and Steve have the tower to yourselves, maybe you two can..." Axel suggestively wiggled his eyebrows and made crude hand gestures . Tony slapped him and looked around to make sure Steve didn't hear anything, he spotted the man helping Bucky load a large box into the jet. "Come on dad, you need to get laid."

"Be quiet." 

Lorenzo appeared and walked to Tony and hugged him, "Hey dad, long time no see."

"We had dinner last night." Tony rubbed his back and Axel rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna get my snake." He left the two, walking to the wooden box by the door, picking it up. He carried it into the jet where Steve and Bucky were talking.

"Maybe you and Tony will finally fuck each other this week."

"Shut up." Axel snorted loudly and startled Steve, "Oh god, how much of that do it you hear?"

"Enough. Just so you know, he likes you to. And both of you need to get laid."

Bucky slapped Steve's arm, "See, I fucking told you."


	33. Chapter 33

Bucky, Lorenzo and Axel all stood around a desk in the house Axel rented. Papers and photos were scattered between them, Bucky and Lorenzo looked tired from the surveillance they were running on the house for three days straight and Axel's hands were covered in snakes blood.

"From what we gathered, they have sixteen guards on the estate, around twenty staff and six guard dogs. They have an alarm on the house, Bucky got the code and as you can see, we got pictures. We got a good look at the kids, we need to get them out of there as soon as possible, they look terrible." 

"Good. You two should get some sleep, we're leaving tonight at eleven." 

*************

Mr and Mrs. Reed ran down the stairs after hearing a loud commotion downstairs, "I thought we told you little ungrateful brats to keep quiet down here." Instead of children they were met by two masked figures dressed in all black from head to toe and one masked figured dressed in a lime green pin stripe suit, carrying a large brown leather bag.

"I can assure you, the brats are still fast asleep." The one in the suit jokingly whispered.

Mrs. Reed gasped, "Michael!" 

Suit laughed and pointed at someone laying at the bottom, "Is that Michael? Or is it the one outside? Your security is weak, the three of us didn't even break a sweat." 

"What do you want? We have money." 

"I am aware of that, but that's not why I'm here." Suit looked at the other two, "Go watch the kids, I should be done soon." 

The couple watched as the other two walked to the basement, and suddenly, they were engulfed in a white powder that made them feel fuzzy. Both of them blacked out on the stairs and were caught by Suit.

**************

After setting up everything, Axel chained the couple to chairs in the living room and laid all the ingredients for the spell on a table, along with a large knife.

"How am I doing so far, Fake Siri?" Axel whispered into his wrist.

"Very good so far, sir. Based on gathered information, someone would usually be bleeding profusely by now. Keep it up." 

Axel smiled and fixed his tie, he took off his blazer and rolled up his sleeves, "They should be awake by now."

On que, they both started groaning and then panicking and then yelling for help, but they were both wearing ball gags so it came out very muffled. Axel tried to get them to stop, but they kept yelling and screaming and crying and annoying him, so Axel back handed both of them, so hard their faces immediately turned red.

"Now that I have your attention, I'm here for Sophie. If you don't tell me where she is, I will be forced to take very drastic measures. If you do tell me, then I will make this as painless as humanely possible." Axel raised an eyebrow and they both nodded rapidly. 

He started to take off the woman's gag, "If you scream, I will cut out your voice box."

She nodded and let out a shaky breath, "Please don't kill us, I don't know anything, she disappeared after the case was dismissed. You have to believe me, I don't know anything."

Axel put the gag back on and playfully slapped her cheek, "I know you don't, I just wanted to see what he would do." They both looked across at the husband, Axel stood directly in front of Mr. Reed, "You know where Sophie is, don't you? I can see the cogs turning in that demented mind, but know that I already know what you know and you disgust me."

The man's eyes grew wide when he saw Axel moving for his face. Axel pulled off the gag, "Why don't you tell the Mrs what you have hiding in the attic? I bet she's dying to know."

The man whimpered as he looked back and forth between Axel and his confused wife and he pursed his lips. Axel walked to the table, "While you two figure that out, I'm going to be over here." 

Axel prepared two separate bowls, both containing a small amount of blood he collected from the two while they were passed out. Axel listened to the man whisper apologies to his wife and chuckled when she looked away.

After mixing the necessary ingredients together, Axel whispered something and both bowls caught in fire, making the couple screech. Axel cut them both a look that made them shut up, even if they couldn't see his face. He reached into the fire and pulled out two small red hot metal plates in the shape of a horned snake.

The couple watched in horror as Axel walked toward them, and they started squirming around in their chairs, trying to escape. 

"The pain doesn't last very long, you start to feel your body shutting down and only your mind is awake. Essentially, you'll be trapped in your body, until the day you die." 

He stood behind them and slowly placed the plates on the back of their necks. As expected, they screamed in pain, until it started to die down into whimpers and then nothing, their bodies stopped moving and the husband had a small tear roll down his cheek. 

Axel packed his bag and started toward the attic before stopping, "Don't move." He said mockingly and chuckled, continuing his journey.  
**********

If he hadn't seen this before, Axel would've felt sick to his stomach, but sadly it was a normal occurrence. Axel found Sophie, but she died and judging by the smell, she's been dead for a few days. Axel already knew that, what he came up for was the two year old boy hiding in the corner, clad in only a baggy green t-shirt. 

Axel ripped off his mask, "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise." The boy relaxed a little, "I'm Axel, what's your name?" 

"Mommy called me Abel. I think she's sick, she's not waking up." Abel hesitantly stepped forward, closer to where Axel knelt with his hands on his thighs.

"She was sick, since she couldn't see a doctor, she died." Abel let out a cry, "It happened to my mommy to."

The boy collapsed into Axel's lap, tears streaming down his face, he picked up the boy in his arms and lay his head on his shoulder. "Let's go join the rest of the kids and call the police."

****************

"Do you think they're gonna be okay?" 

"That's a stupid question Enzo, they went through hell in that house, they're never gonna be okay." 

The three of them were watching from their car, which was parked in a shadowy area where the first responders couldn't see them. Multiple ambulances came and went, all of the kids, including Abel, we're safe and the Reeds were being loaded into the last ambulance. From the body bag Axel was assuming they found Sophie, he hadn't remembered killing anyone.

"That's a negative way of looking at it, Axel. At least one of them is going to be okay." Bucky sounded so hopeful, but Axel could see the doubt in his eyes.

"There's a Vietnam veteran living in one of my buildings who wakes up screaming every night, trauma stays with you forever, none of those kids are ever going to able to say they're fine without lying a little, there's always going to be something. At least, it's over now."

"Those two assholes still get to live in that palace with all of their servants and guards? That just doesn't seem fair at all, they deserve to rot in prison." Enzo was seething.

"They wish. I had Stacey transfer some of their funds into separate accounts for each child, when they turn eighteen and get kicked out of the system, they each have forty million dollars to keep, except Abel, since he's that monster's biological son, I put in an extra twenty million." 

"What about the estate?" Enzo asked curiously, Axel sounded like he planned this entire thing before they even landed.

"Oh I'm keeping it, it has forty bedrooms, ample yard space. I'm thinking of turning it into an orphanage, as a big fuck you to those two assholes." Axel's smug smile spread wider across his face.

"How long have you been planning this?" Bucky asked

"I ran into Mr. Reed yesterday at the farmer's market, and I saw everything, so I called Stacey and told her what to do, the left over five hundred million is going to fund the orphanage. There's one I had in mind, a house, not far from here, it needs knocking down but they don't know where to put the kids, so this is their new home. My lawyers are already drawing up the paper work for them, they should be able to move in a couple of months or so."

Both Bucky and Lorenzo looked fondly at the man in the driver's seat, who paid neither of them any attention, he just watched intently as the cops question the newly awakened security guards.

Axel started the car and quickly drove off in the opposite direction of the cops, Lorenzo suddenly had a thought, "Where are Mr and Mrs. Reed going to stay?"

Axel shrugged, "Some shitty psych facility."

"You are the sweetest demon I have ever met." Lorenzo teased.

Axel frowned, "I'm not sweet, don't say that."

Bucky smirked, "Sweeter than sweet, you are the nicest most generous softy ever."

"I've killed people, lots of people, so many people, hundreds of people." 

Lorenzo scoffed, "You've killed six people. Six very evil people who tried to kidnap you, the rest just shot you and died as a result."

"God dammit, I will crash this car! I am not sweet or nice, I'm just doing what any other person would do."

Lorenzo scoffed, "You and I both know that most people would walk by and not give a shit, we've experienced it first hand. Just admit that you're a good person."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not sweet at all, I told someone they had an ugly baby yesterday, nice people don't do that."

"Did she have an ugly baby?" Bucky asked.

"Looked like a little monkey, I could see where it got it's features she wasn't very nice to look at either, and she was such a bitch."

"I still think you're a sweetheart." Axel growled at Bucky's statement .

"Agree to disagree."


	34. Chapter 34

The FBI director ranted to his subordinates, they were all gathered in the pit, all standing at their work spaces, listening to him.

"The Voodoo Priest hit another house in Oakland yesterday and we still don't have any leads, what are you people doing? We have been working on this case for three years, and nothing, no name, no face, not even a voice, just a blurry video without audio. We're going to have to drop this case soon, we need to come up with ideas, find a motive, a connection, something. We need a trap."

**************

CIA Headquarters.

"We've been investigating the Axe Demon for six years and you're telling me, that all we have is a fucking tattoo and an untraceable motorbike. He's killed sixty people, maimed seven and threw a car at seven police cars. He's dangerous, like all those other freaks. He needs to be caught and put away on the Raft for good. We need to set a trap." 

*****************

"How is our search for the two potential new recruits going?" Fury asked Maria. He was sitting at his desk when she walked in with a thick manila folder and a Stark pad.

"Make that three. You remember the wolf from New Orleans a few years back?" Fury nodded. "He's back, we got this on video six hours ago at a gas station."

She started the video. It started off quiet, then three masked men ran into the gas station, seconds later, a large black wolf followed them inside. What followed, was a cacophony of screams and cries and glass breaking, things were dropping off of shelves, blood was splattered everywhere. Then it suddenly stopped and the bell above the door jingled as a man covered in blood - to the point they couldn't make out any facial features - stepped out the door, he licked his bloody fingers and walked off somewhere off camera and the video stopped.

"Do we have an ID for the three men?"

"Yes, they were the henchmen for Gustavo, there was also another murder in the area, a little girl and her twenty year old sister, both shot to death, we're testing the ballistics to their guns."

"Anything on The Voodoo Priest or The Axe Demon?" 

"The Priest hit another house last night, took every cent they had, paralyzed the couple and saved nine kid's lives. The youngest one keeps calling him Axey. They got nothing else from him." 

"I think it's time we set a trap. I'm tired of waiting."

*************

2 weeks later.

"Screaming isn't gonna save you! You're wasting your breath, what little you have." Axel climbed out of the six foot hole he dug and walked over to the woman screaming in the wooden box, "I mean, you did this to sixty people, you should know that." 

The banging on the box persisted so Axel banged back, "No one's gonna hear you! We're miles away from anyone, any road, any house, right were you like to bury the rest of them. Isn't it ironic, you dying like this? I think it's hilarious."

A muffled "please" echoed through the box. Axel ignored her, and lifted the box, "Alright. In you go. I'm sorry I couldn't make it more comfortable but you're a horrible person so you have to make do with the Reece's cups, even though you're like, allergic to peanuts. That's incase you can't take it any more and, you know..." Axel made a choking sound.

Axel set it down into the hole, gently and picked up a shovel. He refilled the hole and ignored the cries of the woman and the banging on the wood. He whistled while he worked and did a little dance when he finished the hole.

Axel lay on the ground next to the grave with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed. "I'm not a complete monster, I'll keep you company. You sound like you need it, I know your dad used to lock you in a closet and diddle you, but that is no reason to kidnap sixty innocent people and bury them alive, I don't see the connection, they did nothing to you. I would understand if this was the result of some revenge plot, but none of those people even met you, you can't just..." 

Axel felt her die in that moment and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Really? You call suicide victims weak and pathetic and you do it. Fucking hypocrite." 

Axel got up and dusted off his hands, he picked up the shovel and slung it over his left shoulder. "I'm thinking, mozzarella sticks for dinner. Maybe with a side of acid, I haven't seen that leprechaun in a long time." 

He climbed into the pick up truck he stole and drive away, the tires kicking up a gust of dried dirt behind it.


	35. Chapter 35

"Authorities say they are closer to finding the Axe Demon, last night he struck again this time attacking Gustavo, a known and very ruthless mob boss. Gustavo and the rest of his job were all killed last night. Camera footage shows a very clear video of the Axe Demon walking into the restaurant, they were able to pick up another strange tattoo on his chest." A picture appeared next to the news anchor, "As you can see it is a crow picking on the remains of a cow's skull and a naked leprechaun right below that. If anyone sees someone with these tattoos, contact the authorities immediately, the Axe Demon is armed and very dangerous."

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, "God dammit."

************

Axel was at the park making his daily rounds, handing out packaged meals and fresh clothing for homeless people. These were the ones who were too proud to go to the homeless shelter he set up years ago, so he had the thought to bring it to them. They were still very proud people, but Axel tricked them into taking the food and clothes by giving them jobs. They never take money, just the food and clothes and it is from them where he gets most of his information. Sometimes they would move around the city keeping an eye on certain people, or listen to people talking.

It was fool proof, no one would ever suspect a homeless person, ever. And when Axel realised that, he set it in motion. All of them were willing participants and they basically got paid for it.

Today was a dry day, nothing juicy. 

When he was finished with that, he sat down at a bench facing the pond and fed the ducks with the bag of grains he brought along. 

"Must you make everyone look bad? I just saw you feed and clothe sixteen homeless people and now you're feeding the ducks, can't you be an asshole like everyone else." Some commoner addressed him, they just said that and sat on the bench next to him like they were friends.

"If you'd mind your fucking business, you wouldn't look bad." Axel didn't even spare him a look, he just kept feeding the ducks.

"I couldn't help it, I was intrigued, you never get to see a demon doing God's work."

Axel paused for a moment and looked across to see a priest, "You here to kill me? I think you're going to be very disappointed if you are."

"I know who you are and what you can do, my name is David, I am another one of your cousins."

"How are you a priest if you're a demon?" 

"I am actually part angel, some of us turn into angels others into demons."

Axel nodded, "What do you want?"

David shrugged, "I simply wanted to meet you, I wanted to see what kind of person you were, after everything I've been hearing on the news, I needed to see for myself. You did not disappoint, if you need anything, my church is in Brooklyn, it's the one with the gargoyles, can't miss it. It was nice to meet you Axel." 

Axel shook his hand, "Same." He saw that David was telling the truth and he smiled, that was very rare, to find someone honest. "Thank you." 

David nodded and walked off and Axel watched him leave for a moment before going back to the ducks.

*************

The cursed song is the first thing Natasha heard when she stepped off the elevator in the tower, she came here to talk to Tony but when she heard that creepy song, Smile playing, she immediately was on guard. Everyone in the tower knew that when that song was playing Axel was probably having a meltdown, and not the nice kind. Last time, she walked in on him trying to cut his fingers off. That was four years ago but it stuck with her all these years and now the song was playing again.

He always claimed he was fine, but there was that look in his eye, the psychotic look and the psychotic grin, that told everyone else he was in fact not fine. Axel never had another episode after him and Enzo were separated but everyone knew the day would come eventually.

She followed the music to the kitchen and heard Axel's deep raspy voice singing along. Natasha frowned, a bit confused, Axel never sings along he's usually too wrapped up in his head to focus on anything. She suddenly caught a sweet smell and heard pots and pans clanging, like someone was cooking.

When she entered the kitchen, she was shocked that Axel wasn't trying to kill himself, which was really sad once you've thought about it. Axel was mixing something in a large bowl, like cookie dough. A head popped up from behind the counter, which startled Natasha again.

"I think last batch is done, boss." It was a man, he looked like he could pass for some kind of Russian mobster, he even had the thick Russian accent to go with the whole look, the thing that made Nat calm down was the fact that he was wearing a "kiss the cook" apron and he had a bright pink tip dye on his short brown hair. He wasn't much taller than Axel and he had bright blue eyes and an eternal smile on his face.

"For the last time, Yasha, you don't have to call me boss." Axel didn't sound annoyed he just sounded amused and Nat could tell by the slight smile on his face.

"Sorry. I will never get used to that, in Russia, I would have had fingers cut off for even looking boss in the eye."

"That's because you worked for a mobster, Yasha."

"You are, hands down, best boss I ever had. You let me make cookies and you give me and my son, safe place to stay. You are greatest man I ever known." 

Axel was scooping out the batter onto a cookie sheet, "Thank you." 

Natasha decided it was time to make herself known, "Hey Axel, who's your friend?"

"Nat, don't play stupid, I heard you come in ten minutes ago." Axel never even looked up from the cookie dough, but Yasha did, he smiled a joyous smile.

"Sorry about him, I've known him three years and he is always very blunt. I am Yasha, I work for Mr. Stark at homeless shelter. We are preparing for the monthly Birthday day."

Nat scrunched her nose up, "Birthday day?" 

"The first day of every month, we have a birthday party for all the residents who were born in said month. It was Yasha's idea." 

Yasha nodded, that bright smile still shining on his face, "I never had birthday party back home, Martha, from the shelter found out and threw me one and I wanted to share joyous occasion with everyone else."

Axel cracked a smile, "As you can see, he's a bit of a puppy." 

"I heard the song playing, I thought you had another meltdown." 

"This is Yasha's cookie playlist, he likes all the old creepy romantic music, he thinks it makes the cookies come out sweeter." 

Yasha nodded and walked over to Nat with a cookie, "Here, you try." Natasha took it and looked at Axel who just nodded, she took a bite and let out an involuntary moan, which made Yasha smile impossibly brighter and excitedly yell in Russian.

"English Yasha, and lower your voice."

"Right, sorry."

Nat smiled at him, "It's one of the best I've ever eaten, thank you Yasha." 

He took a bow and went back to the kitchen counter to put the next batch in the oven. The elevator pinged again, Nat assumed it was one of the team, instead, a strange but familiar looking dark skinned man walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry I'm late, boss." He walked past Nat and dropped the messenger bag he was carrying on the floor, "There was a maintenance problem, one of the pipes burst."

"That is fine Manny, introduce yourself to Natasha and wash your hands before you start." Axel was mixing another set of dough. Manny looked at Nat and held his hand out.

"I'm Emmanuel, but everyone calls me Manny."

Nat shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you. What exactly is it that you do for Axel?"

"I'm one of his landlords and I usually help out with little odd jobs, like baking cookies for a huge birthday party." 

Natasha noted the landlord part, something about Manny just felt incredibly familiar. "Well, I have to talk to Tony. I was very nice meeting both of you."

Yasha waved at her, "Goodbye, Ms. Widow."

********************

It was on her way to Tony's workshop when she figured it out, she barged in and located Tony immediately. "Tony? Why is there a wanted man in your kitchen baking cookies?"

"I'm pretty sure you already know Axel lives here." Tony was tinkering with something small on the metal table.

"I'm not talking about Axel, why would you assume I was talking about Axel?"

Tony froze and whispered, "Shit."


	36. Chapter 36

Tony nervously tried to come up with something and change the subject, "You've met him, I think we can both agree it sounds a bit like him. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you had some top secret spy mission from Fury?"

Natasha let that slide for now and took a small flash drive from her pocket, "Fury has been working on this for years, a select few people at SHIELD are trying to locate and recruit three powered individuals to the Avengers initiative."

Tony had Jarvis read the flash drive and everything came up as a hologram. The screen was split in three and a blurt figure came up in all three, all wearing vastly different things. If Tony hadn't know it was his son, he would've thought they were three different people. There's the brightly coloured suit, the all black and leather jacket biker look and then the "I'm wearing the first thing I found that smelled good" look, only it's covered in blood.

"Their work is messy but they never have any civilian casualties, not one and they always somehow never get caught, the Axe Demon keeps slipping through the cracks, even the CIA is hunting him. No one knows how the Voodoo Priest gets his targets, they always seem so random. And then there's the big black wolf, we got him on camera three times, he's either always backing the camera after he shifts back, or he's covered in too much blood to identify him, none of his victims are connected in any way, just that they were all very bad people. Even the cops in New Orleans, they were all under investigation for a string of accidental deaths. None of the any of their victims were good people, all of them, the worst of the worst."

Tony looked through crime scene photos and watched the videos, "What do you want me to do exactly?"

"We were hoping you could help us set a trap, we've been looking for them for years and nothing, not even a face, no names, no allies, just tattoos. They're really good."

Tony scratched his head , he was wondering if he should tell Nat anything, Axel wouldn't care but he didn't want Fury knowing about his son. Knowing the man, he would try to use him in ways that would snuff the only light Axel had left, out completely. Natasha watched him closely with a frown on her face.

"He's, really good. That's the first thing you should know." He eventually decided to tell her, she was his team mate, they were basically family, he trusted her.

"What?" 

"They're the same person, all three of them." 

Natasha crossed her arms across her chest, "And you know who he is?" 

"He's a demon, who collects souls for the devil. Which is why there are never any civilian casualties. He's kind of not all there, which is why you have three completely different looking personas, and he has a team of people, who are loyal to a fault, they would never tell you anything about him because he is also the nicest asshole you'll ever meet. That team controls what the public sees, what law enforcement sees, he doesn't have training but his best friend is an assassin who taught him a few things and he spends most of his free time doing acid and helping nice old ladies in bakeries."

Natasha took a seat at the metal table and held her face in her hands, "You're telling me, that Axel is all three of these people. Axel, who had a very public meltdown and got arrested, Axel who is in the news like every other week after doing something either really insensitive or someone raving about one of his movies. The Axel who refused to help us last year when we needed an extra hand on that mission because "not my problem", that Axel?"

"That was because it was October 1st, he had the party at the homeless shelter, he had to help Martha and Yasha with the little cakes. He sent some of his team to help us out instead."

"Why didn't you tell Fury about him? Or me? We could have saved so much time on this."

"One, he would have told you to fuck off, he has no interest in saving the world, just making some people's lives suck a little less. Two, if you hadn't noticed, Axel is very innocent and fragile." 

Natasha raised her eyebrow, "He ripped a man in half and hung his friends with his intestines."

Tony almost gagged at the imagery, "I meant mentally and maybe emotionally. His biggest weakness is disorder, when he was a kid, if I wanted him to stay still for a while, I would get a bag of m&ms or skittles and throw them out in front of him, he wouldn't move until all the colours were sorted and in the order of a standard colour wheel. He has four closets, red, blue, yellow and black, his room and everything in it is either black or emerald, no other colours. His life is exactly how he wants it to be, he has exactly the amount of friends he wants, if anything messed that up, I'm afraid that he would snap and it would be worse than anything we've ever seen."

"When he was thirteen, something happened at school, he still won't tell me what it was, but it made him miss lunch - he had the same thing everyday, water, celery sticks, raisins and a veggie burger, I packed it for him every morning - he missed lunch that day, which disrupted his schedule. He couldn't eat anything until he ate lunch and lunch was eaten between twelve and one. So he starved himself until lunch the next day, didn't talk, didn't sleep, just stared at nothing until he ate lunch the next day."

"That sounds like he has OCD." 

Tony shook his head, "The doctor thought that maybe it was an anxiety disorder, we never really found out. I took him to six different doctors and nothing. He doesn't have the schedule any more, after him and Enzo separated, he just stopped. He still colour codes everything and the skittles still get him, but apart from that, he hasn't had a bipolar episode, or anything majorly worrying. That's why I didn't tell anyone at SHIELD, Axel is way too fragile. It's also one of the main reasons why I put Enzo on the team, so Fury would think Axel was just another trust fund baby and focus more on his brother." 

Natasha grabbed Tony's hand, "I'll tell Fury to back off, it's not gonna be easy, he's gonna have questions."

"And I'll answer them." 

"Axel's gonna be fine."

****************

It was the middle of the night, March 1st, after the party at the homeless shelter, Axel sat at the edge of the roof of a building, just taking in the fresh air. He needed a break, there were too many people, it was too loud and it was kind of suffocating. Even dead he still had major sensory overloads, only now it's worse.

The door to the roof top opened up, Axel ignored it, people came up here all the time. When he heard his name being called, he turned around, only to be doused in something that burned his skin until it was red and bubbling, but he could barely feel it. 

He looked up and saw a short slender brunette woman, holding a small bucket. She looked determined and mean. He rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, cousin?"

"Yes, I'm Mary. I'm gonna be the king of hell, just gotta get rid of the competition first. Why are you not screaming in pain? I just threw a bucket of holy water at you."

Axel shrugged, "I've been burned alive three times and shot in the head seven, I can't feel anything any more." 

Mary went rigid, "What? You've been killed before."

"So many times I lost count, you're just another one who will be long forgotten." Axel went back to looking at the city, ignoring the woman who stood behind him. "You could go ahead, you would never even be Lucifer's last pick to be the king, you have no honour, attacking an unarmed man when his back is turned. You're too desperate. I'm guessing you're a middle child, parents didn't pay you much attention because the other kids were far more interesting. Marie plays the piano like an angel and Mark is a math genius and then you, zero friends, shit grades, no useful talent, best you could do is act, not even well, not even good enough, not even meh enough." 

"Shut up." Mary whispered.

"Every partner you've ever had probably cheated on you, based on how basic you seem. By the looks of you, you were in love with all of them. You advertise one thing and they stay out of pity when they see how pathetic you are. Your life is shit at this point and you find out you could be special, just have to get rid of the competition, you train yourself, kill a few demons first then move into the real thing. But those demons are nothing compared to me, it's like preparing for chemistry when the test is on calculus. You failed and you look like an idiot." 

"I'll kill you, right here right now."

Axel sighed, "And I'll walk it off. You will still never be the king, Lucifer does not like desperation. Why don't you go back to Gale? I bet you would find him with his head between Marie's legs if you hurried."

Axel heard her cry, he stood up from the ledge and turned to face her, "Could you fuck off and cry someplace else, I came up here to get fresh air, not watch some basic bitch ugly cry." 

Mary suddenly got a look of rage on her face and charged at him, he stepped out of the way, which she obviously did not expect and plunged to her death, off the roof. Axel watched her body crash into the roof of a car, "Sad." 

He lit a regular cigarette and walked to the other side of the roof, he wiped his soaked hair out of his face as he felt the burns start to clear up.


	37. Chapter 37

It had been a long week for Axel, he spent three days in Oakland clearing out the mansion and replacing the old furniture with child friendly new stuff. The six ladies, who now owned it, spent the whole time telling Axel he was an angel, which made him very uncomfortable, but he smiled and took it anyway.

When he got back from Oakland, three more of his cousins tried to kill him, and as usual, none of them even got close, one even tripped and fell in his knife, it was hilarious. 

A couple days ago, he got bit by a car after pulling an unsupervised two year old, out of the road. The kid was fine, but he broke his leg and now he has to wear an orthopedic boot, that clashes with everything in any of his closets.

Earlier that day, he got a call saying that there was a small fire in one of his shelters. It wasn't too bad, it had been at the back of the building where very few people went, it would take a couple days to fix, but Axel could handle it.

What he couldn't handle, was his annoyance at the six people with large weapons, who were currently surrounding him. More cousins, they decided to team up this time, they thought that since he was injured, it would be an easy kill.

He rolled his eyes, "Have any of you morons not considered the fact that none of you can kill me? There was the other seventeen, all dead and I didn't touch one of them. Are you all so desperate to feel special, none of you would even stop to think about why I'm the favourite? I'll tell you all one thing," Axel sipped his iced tea, for dramatic effect, "you can't kill me." 

One of the women pulled out a golden bladed sword, "With Michael's sword, yes we can."

Axel rolled his eyes and finished his drink, he placed the cup on the ground next to his feet and spread his arms out, "Get on with it." 

She hesitated first and then took two large steps toward him and drove the sword through his chest. Nothing happened to him, but she started screaming in pain and suddenly caught on fire, her body dropped and she turned into ash. Axel pulled the sword from his chest and turned to address the other five.

"It doesn't matter what weapon you use, if you have ill intent, it will reverse and you will die exactly how I would have. The rest of you can go, forget about this, because you can't kill me. It's impossible, I've tried hundreds of times, and hundreds of things." 

Some of them looked hesitant, especially after seeing their team mate die like that, two of them walked away. The other three stood their ground and kept their weapons high.

Axel sighed, "At least I didn't wear anything expensive or I would have dealt with you for ruining my clothes." 

Three gunshots rang out and three bodies hit the floor. Axel picked up his cup and the sword he dropped, off the ground and walked away from the bodies. What Axel didn't realise, is that there was a security camera that caught the entire thing.

***************

Two detectives, one male and one female, stood on the other side of the table Axel was handcuffed to, arms crossed trying to look intimidating and Axel was bored.

"Are both of you constipated or something?" He looked between the two, who uncrossed their arms and looked at each other, "I thought it was against the rules for partners to date." 

They both took a seat at the table and the man opened the laptop that had been sitting on the desk. The woman caught Axel's attention by lightly hitting the table.

"Where were you last night at eleven p.m.?" 

"I was walking home from Pam's Diner, when I was surrounded by six idiots who tried to kill me." 

The detectives both looked very surprised, "That was easy. Did you kill them?" 

"As you can see in the video, I didn't touch any of them and I gave them all a warning that they decided not to listen to." 

"How do you know we have a video?" 

"Why else would you have brought a laptop?" 

The man sheepishly closed the laptop and set it aside, "How did you do that? Are you a mutant?"

"No, more like demon. When I was nineteen, my grandmother tried to kill me with voodoo magic and accidentally turned me into a voodoo doll, anyone tries to hurt me, as you can see, it never goes very well for them." 

The door swung open and some man in an expensive looking suit, walked in with a messenger bag, "My client will not be talking to you anymore."

Axel frowned, "Three things, one, I didn't call for a lawyer, two, I don't know who the fuck you are and three, get the fuck out and let me finish talking to the cops you unmannerly piece of shit. Were you raised in the fucking wild? We were having a conversation, you didn't even knock, you just walked in like you owned the place." Axel slammed his hand on the table in anger, "Get the hell out!"

The man turned bright red and got out faster than humanly possible. The cops, who were very surprised, turned to look at Axel confused. "Why did you do that? He could have gotten you out of here in no time."

"You guys are just doing your job and you can't arrest me because I technically didn't kill anyone." 

"God dammit."

*************

This would be the fifth time he walked out of this precinct and maybe if he felt it, he would be ashamed of that fact, but Axel just lit a cigarette and waited for his ride to come get him. There was a black SUV with tinted windows a few cars down from him and another across the street and two more further down the street, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. 

Which was impossible, this was one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city, it was like seeing a beat up Toyota in the Hamptons. Whoever these people were, were either very stupid or they didn't care of they could be seen.

The man who tried to pretend to be his lawyer got out of one of them with an older "tougher" looking man, he was bald and had one eye with a lot of scarring around it. As they got closer Axel could see how wicked this man was, everything he had ever done and not much of it was good, this man's soul was just as ugly as he was.

"Axel Stark, follow me, were going for a ride."

Axel snorted, "No thank you, that's how rape happens." 

He looked surprised, "It was not an invitation, it was an order."

"I don't work for you, why are you giving me orders?"

He was looking increasingly angry, "Get in the car now or else."

Axel leaned against the wall on his left shoulder and blew smoke in his face, "Or else...what?" 

He was red in the face now, "You don't want to know, get in the car."

"Actually, I do want to know."

The man walked closer to Axel so he was in his face, Axel could smell the cheap cologne he was bathed in, and he kind of smelled like rotten oranges, "Get into the car."

"Do they call you Agent Orange because you smell like oranges?" 

He stepped back in surprise, "How do you know that name?"

"How does one know anything?" 

Mr. Orange was looking more and more like Mr. Strawberry as the moment went by. The other guy just stood behind and watched the entire thing with wide eyes. "God. Damn. It. Get in the fucking car."

Axel scoffed, "The day that I ever, listen to someone named William Rawlins, is the day that hell freezes over." 

Mr. Orange Rawlins grabbed Axel by the collar and tried to intimidate him, "You're getting on my damn nerves you little punk, get in the fucking car."

Axel pushed him off and fixed his jacket, "This is Gucci, you uncultured swine. I'm not getting in the car, there is nothing you could do or say to make me get into the car, so you can fuck off back to your fucking car and leave me alone."

"Shoot him!"

A dart lodged in his neck, Axel pulled it out and smelt it, "This smells nice. What's it called?"

Agent Orange looked like he wanted to pull out his hair, he didn't have any, but he was gonna pull it out. "God dammit!" 

Axel shrugged, "I don't know, I feel like people have been saying that to me more often these days." 

Agent Orange just punched Axel in the jaw, Axel didn't flinch but Orange yelled out in pain and held his broken wrist, "God dammit!" 

"See, there it is again." Axel's jeep pulled up on the curb in front of him, "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Orange." 

"Get back here you punk! I'm going to skin you alive you little asshole!" Axel got into the driver's seat and took control of the car, he waved at the angry angry man with a cheeky smile and drove off. Orange punched the wall with his good hand and fractured one of his fingers, "God dammit!"

*************

The team was in the common room with Fury discussing Axel and the situation they were dealing with. Some of them wanted to bring Axel on the team because of his skill and others, who knew how Axel was, strongly advised against it.

"Axel is not in the right frame of mind to be out there with the team fighting aliens and terrorists and other super villains, he already has enough shit going on, he doesn't need more on his plate." Tony argued.

"If he's in the right frame of mind to kill an entire mob, all the while managing six homeless shelters, I say he can do it." Clint countered.

"I agree, Tony you have two of the most powerful beings in the world as children and you keep one of them hidden because he had a fragile mind when he was nineteen? He's twenty seven now, he can handle himself." 

A beeping sound stopped the argument and Valentina's - Axel's AI - voice rang through the ceiling, "Mr. Stark, there is a ninety percent chance that Axel will drop the CEO of Hollow Tech, out of a ten story window in six minutes." 

Tony jumped to his feet, "Why?" 

"I'm not sure, I'll connect the two of you." 

Suddenly, the room was filled with the screams of a terrified man and Axel shouting at him. "Where is she you little bitch? I will drop you, I'm not even joking, I've always wanted to see someone go splat on the side walk."

"Axel? What the hell are you doing?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Dad! Hey, I'm bringing donuts when I'm finished here, I'm trying to find a little girl, so now's not a good time." The screaming in the background increased, "Look at that, one hand! It's slipping, it's slipping! Where is she?"

"I don't know, I swear to God, I don't know." 

"I know that you know, baby cakes. Just admit it and maybe, just maybe I won't drop you." 

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Let me up! Please, God."

"Well I'm flattered but I am not God. Come on, fuck face, just tell me where she is. If you don't tell me where she is, I won't drop you...but, I hear that you love your little poodles, it would be a shame, if something were to happen to them. Like, you come home one day and find their little guts all over your front yard and their bodies in your bed, it would wreck those navy blue silk sheets." Axel threatened in a childish but slightly terrifying tone.

Tony ended the call, "That's enough of that."

The room was drowned into an awkward silence up to the point when Clint broke it, "I'm with Tony now, he can't be on the team, he just threatened to kill a dog, that is unacceptable."

Fury nodded, "Agreed, the eight of you are enough for now."

***************

Tony entered his workshop and locked it down quickly, making sure no one else was coming down there and he looked back into his workshop. The lights suddenly turned on, and there Axel was, sitting in a chair with his legs kicked up on Tony's work desk, he was wearing a fake moustache and twirling it between his fingers.

"How did I do?" He asked in a fake British accent.

Tony smiled, "Perfect."


	38. Chapter 38

"Marcie wants romance? I'm gonna romance the shit out of his horror, can't believe she actually said that to me. "Axel it's too violent." No idea what she's talking about, like six people get gutted and she's all fucking grossed out. She's lucky I like her." Axel was rapidly typing on his laptop, in his office, absolutely furious about the phone call he got from his publicist, Marcie.

The office was more like, Manny and his team's headquarters, Axel had a small office there where he kept his spell books, ingredients and weapons. Sometimes he came here to study case files, other times he just came here to write when there were too many people in the tower. But today, he had a meeting with a young lady who called him, trying to find help. About what, she wouldn't say.

"Marcie doesn't even know what she's talking about, my fans love the murder. There's no need to turn it down, I should turn it up, heads rolling and brains everywhere, now that sounds like a fucking story." 

A knock on the door ripped him out of his zone and he immediately halted his typing. He realised what time it was and cursed and fixed his clothes, his hair and cleaned his glasses. He cleared his throat, "Come in."

A blonde girl walked in, she looked very young, a little too young to be seeking him out. Large curls framed her face, bringing out the steely blue of her eyes. She was wearing a black strappy baby doll dress and had a tiny back pack hanging on her shoulder. She was short, like really short, she would make his dad look like a giant. She had a bright smile on her face making her look like a ray of pure sunshine.

"Hi, I'm Ruby. Oh my god, you're the Axe-man? Axel Stark, I'm a huge fan of your movie series, everyone always complains about the gore, but you have just enough to make the stories interesting. I know a lot of people who think you're nuts, but I think you're a genius." 

Axel shook her hand and got a read, nothing horrible but the last few weeks of her life were a bit fuzzy, this discovery made him frown. "It's very nice to meet you, Ruby." He guided her to a seat in front of his desk, "How old are you?" 

"I'm twenty-five." 

Axel sat down in his chair behind the desk and shut his laptop, "What can I help you with?" 

She started fidgeting with her hands, "Something happened to me last week and I can't remember anything from that week up until waking up in an open field with a man in a suit, he told me where to find you, said his name was Lucifer." 

"You can't remember anything at all?" She shook her head, "What were you wearing? Any stains? Were you in any kind of pain when you woke up? Any strange smells? Any little details you can remember when you woke up?"

Axel brought a note pad out of his desk, along with a pen, taking notes. He fixed the glasses on his face and scribbled down the first bit.

"I was wearing a white sundress, but it was covered in dried blood and dirt. Something smelt like...like it was rotting. I wasn't in any kind of pain, but there was a hole...a big one, like ten feet away."

Axel nodded, "Where was this?" 

"Dayton, Ohio." 

"Did Lucifer say anything else?"

She nodded her head, "He said you could help me figure out what happened to me. He said I could be very useful to you. I'm gonna say right now, I will not do anything sexual."

Axel shrugged and stood up, searching through his mini fridge for the glass bottle of blood he kept in there. "You don't need to worry about that, I already have like seven people who are very comfortable with anything sexual." 

Axel dipped his index fingers in the bottle, spreading the blood on his finger tips. He went and stood before her and asked, "Would you like to see what happened to you?" 

Ruby nodded. Axel gently pressed his fingers on either side of her temple and closed his eyes, "Put your hands on top of mine and close your eyes." 

He saw flashes, like those ridiculous lights at clubs. From the music playing in the background, Ruby was at a club or a party, she was dancing with her friend, who was very clearly drunk. Then, she was at the bar, talking to a man, he spoke like he thought he was very good looking, Ruby seemed to like him, she drank the drink he bought her and everything started getting fuzzy.

Axel made a few alterations to the spell so they could see everything clearly. The man grabbed Ruby and her friend, leading them to his car. Both of them were so out of it, Axel could see exactly where this was going. But he let it play out, for Ruby's sake.

They got to the field where she woke up, both girls crying and begging the man to let them go. He dragged them out of the car toward two holes in the field and they were screaming now. Ruby felt a sharp pain in her chest and suddenly, everything went black. 

She woke up later with Lucifer standing above her with his arm out to help her out and she took it. Her hands looked weird, like scaly and her finger nails were long and pointy.

Axel withdrew his hands from her head and wiped off his fingers and her forehead. Ruby just sat there silently, trying to understand what just happened, as they all do, and she suddenly burst out in tears. Axel dropped the cloth on his desk and knelt down in front of her. Ruby lunged forward into his arms, she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. Axel rubbed her back soothingly.

*************

Axel decided to get out of his office, he took his laptop and Ruby to the tower, where he set her down on his couch and she lay there, wrapped up in the green blanket he threw over the couch. She was quiet for hours and Axel sat with her and held her hand.

Ruby sniffled and sat up, looking around curiously, she wiped her face and asked, "Why is everything black and green?"

Axel looked around at his floor's decorations and shrugged, "I can't focus on many things at a time, too many colours confuse me, so I picked black and emerald because it looked pretty." 

"I like it, my old room was pink, my mom wouldn't let me change it so I had to look at the same pale pink until I moved out last year. I always thought if I saw that colour again..." She trailed off, she looked up at him, teary eyed and asked, "Why did he do that to me? To Claire? We never did anything to him, we were just having a fun night out and he..." She curled into herself. "I feel dirty."

"There's monsters like that everywhere, they're disgusting. They prey on the weak to make themselves feel powerful. I've had to comfort too many little girls and boys, men and women. But there is only so much I can do." 

"Why am I still alive? I should be dead, he killed me." 

Axel took a moment to try to word this as nice as possible, "You're a demon now." One look and he could see the doubt in her eyes, "Yes demons are real, and they're not bad. We collect evil souls and send them to hell, where the dark angels torture them for eternity. We get assignments from different dark angels or sometimes we get a gut feeling, always follow that gut feeling, that's how I discovered Gustavo and his gang." 

Ruby still looked sceptical, "I'm not sure I believe you." 

Axel dropped to his knees in front of her and changed his some of his features to the hound, his red eyes and his sharp teeth made Ruby jump a little but instead of running and screaming, she caressed his face in the palm of her right hand.

"That's very cool, can I do that?" 

Axel shook his head, "I'm a hell hound, you're a banshee, you get cool nails and white eyes." 

"How do I turn?"

"The first transformation is usually under a high stress situation after that, you can do it whenever you want to." 

"What was your situation?" 

"Right after an insane betrayal, I was covered in blood and I was starving, so I went to get some food, he was yelling at me, the security guard was yelling at me, they called the cops and the cops tried to shoot me and it was loud as hell, too much was happening, and I just turned." 

"How did you find out you where a demon?" 

Axel tucked his hair behind his ears and thought about it, "When I was nine, I think, someone I thought was my friend drowned me in the school's toilet and left me there when I stopped breathing. I woke up a couple minutes later and Lucifer was there, he comforted me and told me what I was, but I hadn't turned into the hell hound until I was nineteen." 

"That's horrible, why did he do that to you?"

Axel shrugged, "I was weird and I dressed weird. I wore dresses and girls jeans to school everyday and I was prettier than everyone else, they just couldn't handle it so everyone bullied me, it didn't really stop until I got to college." 

"Can we die?" 

"Only Lucifer can kill a demon and he's only ever killed one demon, he joined the Nazis and tried to use his powers to kill and capture more people, he was evil and mostly the reason why demons have such bad reputations. If you drop off a building or get shot, anything like that, you would just pop back up like you were taking a nap and the wound would be gone."

"Why did he send me to you?" 

"You needed help and he trusts me. I'm probably one of the only people in this entire country that could help you understand your ability. The others won't be as nice as I am, some of them are hunters and some of them are just assholes." 

Ruby frowned, "Hunters?"

Axel rolled his eyes and sat on the coffee table facing her, "They think they're the soldiers of god, part angel, part human. They think they're better than everyone else but refuse to get with the times, they hunt us with bows and arrows, whips and swords, daggers etc. They're the biggest cunts you'll ever come across."

"I thought we couldn't die?"

"We can't, we just like to humour them. Some demons can teleport, some can turn into dust and reform, the rest of us just play dead until they leave. It's the most fun you'll ever have collecting souls." 

Ruby yawned and rubbed her eyes, indicating she was very tired. "Do you have a place to stay?"

She shook her head, "I got on the bus after Lucifer cleaned me up and came here, I didn't have time to get a hotel room."

"I have a guest room you can stay in, what about clothes?"

Ruby shook her head.

"I'll give you something to sleep in."

************

Lorenzo and Wade walked in the following morning, both carrying empty coffee cups, "Axel? I know that you're busy writing and stuff, but we haven't seen you in two weeks and that is unacceptable..." They walked into the kitchen to see a strange girl sitting on the kitchen counter , wearing a large yellow t-shirt, her blonde hair was braided out of her face and she was giggling at something Axel was saying.

Lorenzo didn't know what was stranger, the fact that Axel actually let someone on his floor or the fact that she was a girl. When she saw them standing in the doorway, she hopped off the counter and walked over to them. With a bright smile on her face, she looked so innocent, which really made Enzo wonder what the hell she was doing with his brother.

"You must be Lorenzo, and you're Wade, Axel told me about you two." She shook both of their hands with a very firm grip, "I'm Ruby." 

"Hi Ruby. What are you doing here?" Wade asked, he was just as confused as Enzo.

"Axel's helping me with something." 

"The waffles are finished, Ruby." Axel called out, he had been ignoring the two of them since they walked in.

"Waffles? I've known you for eight years and you've never made waffles for me." 

"You never asked."

Wade took that answer, it was true. Axel was an incredibly literal person, if anyone wanted anything, they had to ask the right questions because Axel was an asshole. 

"What do you two want?"

Enzo sat at the counter where Ruby was eating peacefully, "We came over to hang out."

"We're going to Dayton when she's finished eating, we have bodies and a potential serial killer to find." 

Wade and Enzo exchanged looks and shrugged, "Can we come?"


	39. Chapter 39

Axel left Wade and his brother back at the hotel, he didn't need the distraction. Today was about Ruby, his brother and his friend could wait a day. Currently, Axel was outside of Ruby's mother's house sitting in his jeep, while she talked to her mother.

He sent Stacey the sketch of the man he drew and told her to find him, and she did. Axel was just reading through the file she sent. Marcus Solomon, not a very villainous name, parents happily married and still alive, he had two sisters who were alive and one that died, he had a girlfriend, no history of metal illness, never been arrested, the CFO at an accounting firm, was in drama club at his school, not very popular, based on his yearbook photo there was a ninety percent chance he was bullied, he used to be fat and had a bowl cut, pimples, braces and the largest pair of glasses Axel had ever seen. Stacey got him an address and his work schedule.

Marcus was very obviously a psychopath, he doesn't even have a speeding ticket, meaning he is either very cautious and never had a bad day on the road or he murdered the cop who pulled him over. He had money, lots of it. Hospital records are practically non-existent, last time he went there, was at twelve years old for a broken ankle. Based on recent pictures, he was always very well put together, not a hair out of place. He had lots of friends, donated to charities. He was too clean. 

The door opened and Ruby got in, still wearing that bright smile, "I'm ready."

Axel handed her his phone and showed her the high school picture, "Do you know him?"

Ruby frowned, "No, am I supposed to." 

"That's the guy that killed you, his name is Marcus Solomon." Axel started the car and left the driveway, while Ruby stared at the phone. 

"I've never seen him in my life. Are we gonna get him?" She looked across at him with those bright eyes and Axel just wanted to skin everyone that ever hurt her alive.

"Of course we are, wanna get him at his house or his office. Office is easier because most people never have any kind of weapons in their office and it's very unexpected. At their house, they could have hidden weapons or trap rooms, maybe even have bodies piled up in a corner."

She was really thinking about it, "What's your favourite?"

Axel eyebrows shot up, no one had ever asked him that question in his life when it came to this particular topic, everyone was always so squeamish, but this little ray of sunshine just asked him if he would rather kill someone in their office or their house and he didn't know if he could handle it. 

"Uh...the uh...office is more dramatic and the house is more intimate. I only choose the house of I have to get someone out of there, or I want someone to watch. Ultimately, the office, is my favourite." 

Ruby nodded, "We should go to the office then." 

"Are you sure you can do this? I won't be disappointed if you back out, I can do it by myself." 

She shook her head, "I can do this I swear, if I get cold feet I'll tell you, I promise. I can do this." 

"After this is done, what are you going to do? If you want, you can stay with me, in the tower and I would help you figure out your powers. You don't have to, you can stay here, but if you ever wanted to come with me, just know that you have a place to stay."

"Thank you, Axel. I'll think about it." 

***********

Getting into this very "secure" building was far too easy, Axel posed as a potential client, dressing very professional in his boring black and red suit, and Ruby was his assistant, she was dressed very similar, in a black skirt suit and a yellow inside shirt, they both wore glasses and Ruby wore a black wig.

Solomon did Axel a favour and got an entire floor to himself, with just him and his secretary. Axel knocked the secretary out and they entered the office.

Solomon stood up from the desk, glaring at the two of them, "What do you think..." 

Axel grabbed him by his throat and slammed him on his desk, "It's definitely him," Axel let go of him and the man fell off the desk, gasping for air and coughing, "he's all yours." 

Ruby nodded, it was pretty obvious that she was very nervous and unsure of what to do. She grabbed Solomon by his collar and dragged him across the room, getting more confident with every action. Ruby threw him against the floor length glass windows and it cracked. 

Axel sat on the desk and watched the entire thing. Ruby took off her wig and the glasses, "Do you remember me?"

Solomon was still getting over the choking thing, Axel may have squeezed a little too hard, "Am I supposed to?" 

"Two weeks ago, you took my friend and I to your little field after you drugged me and..." She still couldn't say it.

She had enough, by the way his eyes grew wide, "Oh god. Please don't kill me, I'm sorry, I swear to god, I'm sorry." 

"This is the part where you take his soul. Place your hand on his chest, relax your palm and push through his chest, it's gonna feel like a ball of cold wind, you have to grab it, pull it out and eat it." 

She was half way when Axel said eat it, "What?" 

"Our bodies are portals to hell, any soul that passes through, goes straight there. Which is why we eat it, or inhale it like it's cocaine, whatever you feel comfortable with." Axel folded his arms across his chest and watched Ruby pull out the black ball of smog, Solomon dropped and tried to crawl away, but Ruby stomped her foot on his leg and broke it. 

Ruby snorted it and shook her head with a grimace on her face, "Yeah, it doesn't feel very good." 

Ruby lifted Solomon to his feet and slammed him into the glass again, so hard that the bullet proof glass cracked. Axel picked up the bowl of sweeties on Solomon's desk and picked through them looking for a good one. "He's definitely a psychopath, who the fuck has a bowl of ginger mints on their desk, and not even the good ones." Solomon screamed out in pain, "You're doing amazing sweetie." 

************

"Marcus Solomon, the CFO of Grey's Accounting, was thrown out of a window from his office ten stories high. No one got a look at the culprit, all security cameras were down and the only potential witness was knocked unconscious before anything went down. Police say that Mr. Solomon was beaten brutally before being thrown out the window..." 

The couple sat on the couch eating two bowls of cereal, "At least we know what Axel's been doing." 

Enzo hummed, "I hope he didn't take that poor girl with him, she looks too innocent."

**************

Axel wiped the blood off of Ruby's hands, she just sat there in their shared hotel room's bathtub staring at nothing. It reminded him of the night he killed Obadiah, when all he could do was stare. When he couldn't believe what he did.

She looked exactly like that. All he could do for her, was clean her up and put her to bed, she would snap out of it in the morning. He wiped the blood off her naked body and her face and out of her hair.

When he was finished, he lifted her out of the bath water and set her down on the counter to dry her off. He dressed her in his yellow t-shirt and carried her to her bed, laying her down gently.

"Will you stay with me?" Ruby whispered. Axel turned the lamp off and lay down next to her, she turned around, backing him, and moved farther into him, making him spoon her. Axel sighed and put his arm around her waist.

"Goodnight, Ruby."


	40. Chapter 40

"Anything yet?" Ruby asked, again, for the millionth time since they got back to New York. They dropped Lorenzo and Wade off at their place and returned to the tower, took a shower and Axel was making her breakfast again. 

Ruby decided it would be best if she stayed with him for a while, to get the hang of being a demon. She kept asking if the cops linked the mass grave they dug up, to Solomon and his answer has always been the same.

"Rubes, we've been back for three hours, we dug up those bodies two days ago, the cops have to do a whole lot of shit before they can even start looking for suspects. There were twenty-five bodies, they have to identify them, get finger prints, any kind of DNA they can find, run it through the database. It's gonna take at least two weeks, so no, nothing yet." Axel topped the parfait with blueberries and granola.

"I've never had one of these before." Axel's phone started ringing and he frowned.

"My dad made them for me all the time when I was in high school, it's called a parfait." Axel placed it in front of her and walked away to answer his phone.

"Yes?"

"I have a new case for you, it's pretty fucked up." It was Amy on the other end.

"Shoot."

"It's another sex trafficker, but it's little girls this time. We have a suspect but we can't do anything because we don't have substantial evidence. We did have evidence, but it somehow disappeared, which could mean there's someone on the inside, meaning that this case is gonna get swept under the rug. I've been working on this for a couple of weeks now, but I'm getting death threats and someone's locking me out of the system. My captain wants me to drop it, but you know me."

Axel huffed, "What's his name?"

"Alexander Lowe, I already sent you all the details. Please be careful, this guy is dangerous." Amy, always the worry wart.

Axel scoffed, "You say that all the time and they turn out to be cry babies."

"This guy is the real deal, he has a lot of connections to mafias, mobs, politicians, CEOs, you name it. I know you can't get hurt physically but this guy could do so much damage to you and ruin your life so please, be careful." 

"I promise I'll be okay."

Axel hung up the phone and put it in his pants pocket. His laptop made the notification noise and he picked it up. E-mail.

He skimmed through it carefully, formulating multiple plans in his head. This guy had many connections indeed, but Axel had more. Axel pulled out his phone again and dial a number.

"Brooke, get everyone, we're gonna kill a couple hundred paedophiles... Yes, all seventy of them... Bring the big guns, we're meeting at the club in two hours." 

He hung up and dialled another number, "Wade, how would you like to kill some paedophiles?... Of course we're getting the girls out, that's the mission, doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun and do police work at the same time." 

***********

Everyone was gathered around Axel as he told them about their targets. They were getting rid of every single one of Alexander's connections before they got rid of the man himself, when he called for help he would realise that he was utterly alone.

"We're separating in groups of five, each group gets a single target, Irish mafia, Russian mob, the Colombians, the Mexicans, those Texas freaks, the Italians, those freaks from L.A, three very popular senators and four naughty police officers. Wade, Ruby and I are gonna wait for your calls and we're gonna fuck up the big guy. We're collecting a shit ton of souls tonight my fellow demons. Tonight is a serious night, so if you run into any hunters, kill them. Split up."

Axel handed each group a file and five masks to cover their faces, "Don't show any skin and try not to get caught on camera, we make ourselves ghosts. At the end of the night, we all meet back up here. If you see anymore hostages free them, you can take whatever you want, money, drugs or weapons. Go fucking crazy." 

*************

"Do you have any experience in this particular area?" Axel asked Ruby.

They were waiting outside of a large estate, where there were visibly seven guards blocking the gates. It was late night time. Wade had gone off to look for any more entrances and any other visible security.

"I have a black belt in karate." 

"You know how to work a gun?" 

"My dad used to take me hunting and I was really into archery." Axel handed her a hand gun, and silently gestured to show him what she could do. She quickly loaded it and turned off the safety, aiming but never shooting. She looked very professional, kind of reminded him of Nat a bit.

"You are officially, my favourite apprentice." Axel handed her three other guns and two extra clips for each of them.

Ruby frowned, "You've had others?"

"Three. Manny, he was a homeless mutant, Brooke, she was in an abusive relationship and he killed her, she's a demon now and she needed help just like you, then there was Stephanie, she was a horrible pick pocket, now she's a great one, but she teaches ballet at my community centre." 

Ruby's eyebrows shot up, "How much shit do you own? There's the homeless shelters, the apartment buildings, the small cafes, the diners and now a community centre?" 

"I own majority shares in a bank and a pharmaceutical company who liked fucking with poor people, and a movie studio for struggling actors, directors, anyone who's good and doesn't get any recognition." Axel motioned for her to turn around so he could braid her hair for the mask.

She obliged, "Why?" 

"I don't like seeing good people suffer. I'm worth twenty billion dollars, as a child I always thought I would go off on some remote island and let the world burn, I hated everyone, they bullied me my entire life because I was different. One day, I was getting beaten, one of the worse beatings, there was blood everywhere and I was going to pass out, and this kid came and kicked all of their asses. I recognized him, he was the poor kid at my school, he had a scholarship, boy was a genius. Everyday he came to school with the same pants and holey shoes, always had bruises on his face. His mom used to beat the shit out of him everyday. He had all that shit going on in his life, he was in pain, he was hungry and tired, he could have walked away, but he didn't. He gave me the idea for this entire operation." 

Axel was finished with her hair, so she turned around to face him again, "What happened to him?"

Axel zipped his jacket and fixed the turtle neck he was forced to wear because of his tattoos, "He died, when we were seventeen. His mom stabbed him six times in his chest cause he reminded her of her dead husband, then she killed herself. Some people would tell you after that, I lost my mind, I got kicked out for walking down the halls naked after a group of guys thought it would be funny to take my clothes after gym class, but I didn't loose my mind, I lost my conscience. He would still be alive doing his nerd shit, if I had just cut that bitch's throat when I had the chance." 

"It's not your fault, you know that right?"

Axel put on his red leather gloves, "Of course I know it's not my fault. I'm just saying I could've done something, and that's what I'm doing now, something. These girls, or maybe anyone I've ever helped in my entire life, most of them are still alive because I did something, I wasn't afraid to bathe my hands in blood. What happened to Joseph, is never going to happen to anyone else if I can do something about it."

"Were you in love with him?" 

"Unfortunately." Axel holstered three guns and a very large knife, "Enough of that, now, when you get into that house, you're gonna see a lot of unsettling shit, I want you to keep this in mind. We're only here for the girls, everyone else is dead. There's sixteen little girls in there, all under the age of twelve and they're gonna be scarred for life because of this experience, so shoot to kill. If you run out of bullets, you can always tear their heads off."

Ruby nodded, "I can do this, I did good with Solomon."

Axel smiled, "Yes you did. If you feel the same way after, you can sleep with me again, I won't mind." 

She nodded again. Axel's phone rang, "Yes...good job." He hung up the phone, "That was the last team, it's our turn now." 

Wade popped up, "That's definitely the house. Armed guards everywhere and they have a couple guests. I counted fifty three. Lowe is locked in his office, he was on the phone and he didn't look very happy." 

Axel picked up his axe and pulled down his mask, "Remember, kill everyone, then call the cops so they can pick up the girls. I didn't have time to get a bus, it's the next best thing." 

Ruby nodded and pulled down her mask. They split up and entered from three different points, Axel in the front, Wade through the side and Ruby through the back. 

*************

"New York is in a state of chaos this morning, last night seven known mafias were wiped out in a blood bath by unknown forces. Witnesses reported there were hundreds of gunshots but no one got any visuals of the shooters. Three senators were killed in their own homes along with their security detail, in what looked like a simple home invasion but the police think otherwise. The Captain of the seventy sixth precinct in Brooklyn was shot to death at his desk, along with two sergeants and a detective. The home of Alexander Lowe was also hit, a witness called the police saying they heard gunshots, when the police arrived, the bodies of Lowe and his men were strewn all over the house, first responders say it was horrific. Lowe was a known sex trafficker, but no evidence was ever found against him until last night. Sixteen young girls were discovered in the house and taken to the hospital for examination."

"Were you serious about keeping that horrific estate?" Ruby asked from beside Axel.

He blew smoke through his nostrils, "I need a new office." He simply replied and proceeded to take another drag of his blunt.


	41. Chapter 41

Tony threw a party for the Avengers' anniversary and Axel was not allowed to skip it. He tried to work his way out of it, but Ruby gave him ear plugs, put him in his favourite yellow suit and dragged his ass upstairs. He would've thought the woman would at least stay with him, but she fucked off to god knows where five minutes after they arrived.

Axel decided to escape to the balcony, leaning against the railing and lit a blunt. He blew smoke into the cool air of the night and sighed. He just wanted to go back downstairs and sleep, he hadn't slept in a while, things keep popping up every minute. 

The hunters kept getting in his way, they wanted revenge for the seventeen of them that died in the Alexander Lowe raid three weeks ago. He was actively searching for their base of operations so he could blow it up or something, with everyone in it. More new demons were coming to him for help. The CIA kept popping up out of nowhere, to capture him or something, he wasn't sure what the fuck they wanted. And to top it off, he ran out of acid and his plug is nowhere to be found.

"I heard smoking is a very bad habit." Axel knew that smooth British voice anywhere.

"Hey gramps." He turned to see Lucifer's look of absolute offence.

"Why do you insist on calling me that, you make me feel old and as you can see, I'm not old." 

"You fucked my grandmother and nine months later my mom popped out. Gramps."

Lucifer sighed and tucked his hands into his pockets, "Whatever, I'm here to talk about you taking a higher position in the ranks."

"I'm already in charge of the demons, what else is there?"

"I want you in charge of the underworld, a sort of king if you please. There's been a lot of buzz over the years, everyone's been asking about you since you took over New York six years ago. Your progress is the best I've seen, you keep the demons in check, you keep the city in check and you got me more souls in these past two years than anyone has."

"When you say underworld, does that include the mermaids?" Lucifer nodded, "I don't want to be king then."

Lucifer rolled his eyes, "You have to get over that, it's been eight months."

"That scaly little bitch ruined my leather boots, they were my favourite and very expensive."

"Well you need to get over it, because they all called for you to be in charge up here until I can find a king of hell. None of the candidates are fit for the job." 

"They're your grandchildren, also could you tell them to stop attacking me, it's getting ridiculous. And why are they all named after someone in the bible?"

"Most of them have very religious families." 

Axel blew smoke out of his nose, "I'm no king, I can barely take care of myself."

"You're already a king, even if you don't realise it. People look up to you, those people you saved or the ones you feed would all die for you. And I can't think of any better reason to make you king of the underworld. Even my dad agrees with me. You will be the most powerful supernatural being on earth, as long as I'm in my own realm of course. Your power will grow exponentially and you could do anything you wanted, have anything you wanted." 

"I already have everything I want, but since you insist, I'll think about it."

Lucifer nodded and accepted the answer, he knew it was the best he was going to get right now, "Go join the party, stop sulking out here. You've worked yourself to the bone this week and I think it's high time you have some fun. I hear they have karaoke."

He disappeared, leaving Axel out there by himself , who huffed and put out the cigarette. 

***********

Axel left the party, he jumped off the balcony and landed on the street below, leaving a crack in the sidewalk. It was the middle of the night and he thought it was the perfect time for a stroll.

He got to the park when he realised someone was following him, but he shook it off, wasn't like they could kill him anyway. He listened closely and found it was multiple people following him, not just the one, but he still shook it off. 

The quiet whistle of an arrow slicing through the air, penetrated Axel's ears and without looking in the direction it was coming from, he caught the arrow that was sent sailing for his left shoulder. He dropped it and continued walking. 

He heard curses, multiple curses. It was probably hunters trying to get revenge, but Axel couldn't be bothered. He sat on a bench in front of a pond and sighed. All he could think about was Lucifer's proposal, him accepting the position would give him more reach outside of America, he would be able to do a lot more. Especially with the power boost he would get.

Another arrow, he caught it again.

Lucifer was right, he was basically a king here already. He didn't really realise that until a couple weeks ago when Ruby playfully bowed to him and called him Your Highness, when he frowned, she explained to him that's what the demons called him behind his back, which was weird. 

This time two arrows came flying at him and he caught them both.

Axel never in a million years thought that anyone would ever look up to him, one, he was short and two, he was a huge fuck up. Everyone knew that, him being king of the underworld was a horrible idea. 

Valentina beeped on his wrist, "Sir, it would appear there are four people with weapons all coming over here. Would you like me to call the bike?"

Axel shook his head, "Nah, they'll fuck off eventually."

He did wonder what power upgrade he would get though, teleportation, maybe a type of voodoo where he didn't need blood, dimension hopping, maybe even time travel, that would be cool. He would go to the past and stop him self from being created in the first place.

He heard swords being drawn and footsteps on the wet grass, coming toward him.

Maybe he would get super speed, or the ability to read minds, or remember things easier, maybe he could summon his own drugs and would never have to spend another dime on weed or acid. That sounded nice, very nice.

"Can you guys please fuck off? I would like to have my existential crisis in peace and quiet." 

There were four of them, one had a bow and arrows, two had swords and one had a whip. Two boys and two girls. They had to be in their late teens early twenties, not much older.

"By the angel, we are taking you into custody to answer for your crimes." The dark haired girl with the whip snarled at him.

Axel raised his eyebrow, "What crimes?"

The dude with the bow and arrows, which were still pointed at him, answered, "You ordered your men to kill us, resulting in the deaths of many hunters."

"Did I?" Axel tilted his head to the right and scrunched his nose, mocking them with his fake look of sympathy, "So sorry to hear about your comrades, maybe if they were better they would still be alive." 

The blonde boy with the sword lunged forward and tried to stab him, but Axel caught the blade and snatched it out of his hands. His hands sizzled when he touched the blade, but he didn't flinch because he couldn't feel it.

"I'm keeping this, I can add it to my collection of hunter memorabilia." 

The red head girl finally decided to make herself known, "This is no time for games."

"But it can be."

"I've had enough of this, stand up and put your arms out on front of you, we're arresting you." Mr. Arrows demanded.

"Are you?" Axel argued. While he distracted them, he pulled a small vial of blood from his suit pocket, he always kept one on hand in case of emergencies.

The one with the whip was fed up and grabbed Axel by his left arm, pulling him up off the bench, "Yes you are."

He rolled his eyes and stuck his arms out, "Fine you win." They slapped some cuffs onto his wrists and tightened them. 

The red head pulled out a magic wand or something and opened up a portal in the middle of the park, she went first, then the arrow boy, then the blond dragged Axel in with the other girl following.

The four idiots walked right into Axel's trap and lead him straight to their hide out, which wasn't really a hide out. It was a huge gothic church in the middle of the city and Axel slapped himself in for not thinking about it. He passed this church twice a to get to his office.

Once they were inside of the church, the dark haired girl and the the blond boy lead him to the cells and the other two just fucked off. On their way to the cells, they ran into and older lady wearing a skirt suit who looked very similar to the girl on his left.

The woman looked at Axel in fright, "Belle, why did you bring him here?"

"To answer for his crimes. We found him in the park and we cornered him until he surrendered." 

"Why would he surrender? He's the king, that doesn't make any sense. This is obviously a trap." 

The blonde scoffed, "He was probably scared for his life, he knew we were gonna kill him if he didn't come."

The woman looked rightfully sceptical, "Put him in the cell and put as many guards there as you can, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry mom, nothing can go wrong."

*************

Axel sat quietly in his cell, listening to everything. He counted the heartbeats, and made a map in his head of all the activity he could hear up there. By his estimations, bedrooms were in the left wing, the computer stations were in the right, they had a kitchen, he heard the clanging of metal earlier so he guessed training room, if they had swords they had a weapons room and that was someplace near the right wing. 

He broke the blood vial and slathered the red liquid all over his hands, muttering a few words in Latin he dropped the glass pieces on the floor, which turned into dust and sink into the floor. 

There were ten guards outside his cell, and seventy people upstairs, a few more were roaming around the place, making it about ninety six people in total. 

He stood up and broke the chains they had used to attach him to the wall, he broke the cuffs off and pulled up the sleeves of his jacket. He could hear the guards outside talking shit about him, but that didn't matter, they'll be dead soon anyway, first he had one last thing to do. 

Axel ripped the bracelet Tony put fake Siri in and smashed it into a wall, breaking it into tiny pieces. He didn't need to see this, no one did.

He went to the door and punched a hole through it, which also went through one of the guard's chest, Axel pulled his heart out and watched the other nine freak out. He kicked down the door and walked out like nothing just happened.

"What we're you saying?"


	42. Chapter 42

Axel was in the church's shower, washing the blood and guts off his body. It was almost morning, meaning everyone was getting ready for work and he didn't want to scare anyone. The layer of blood caking his beautiful tan skin, was so thick he couldn't see his tattoos and it took some scrubbing to get off. 

He supposes he should feel something, he's never done what he just did, but all he felt was relief. 

He turned off the pipes and dried his skin off. Wrapped the towel in his hair and got dressed in the outfit he took from someone's closet. Just an oversized black jumper that swallowed him, a black pair of cargo pants and his combat boots. He dried his hair with the towel and tied it in a tight bun.

He carried his bloodied suit in a paper bag he found and walked out of the bathroom, going straight to the server room. He stepped over the dismembered bodies that lay in the halls, they were a formidable opponent, but in the end, they all died. And he should feel something, he did this, he severed their heads and cut them in half, but when he looked around all he saw were soulless meat suits. They weren't people anymore.

He reached the server room and looked for what he really came here for, their other locations around the world. The hunters had been taking different creatures and they were never seen again. Vampires, werewolves, mermaids, zombies, fairies and warlocks. To where, no one knew, but the supernatural community was getting sick of it and they reached out to Axel for help. 

He pulled the dead guy out of the chair and took a seat, pulling the flash drive out of his jacket pocket and inserting it. It was something Stacey put together, she said he just needed to put it in the computer and it would do all the work. And it did. Files started popping up at a ridiculous pace, then a few minutes later it stopped and the flash drive let off a green glow. 

Axel pulled it out, and all the files disappeared leaving just the wallpaper. He chuckled, "Well, fuck me sideways and call me Sally. You're still alive." 

The Hydra logo looked him in the face. "I'm gonna have fun killing you." 

*****************

"Can I have blueberry pancakes, please?" 

"When will you stop asking for pancakes like you don't own the place, Axel? You sound like a five year old talking to a stranger." 

"I'm sorry I have manners, Katy. I was not raised by wolves." 

Katy rolled her eyes and walked away from his table to the kitchen. She was a high school senior and has been working here for three years to support herself and her little brother, since their parents were basically useless. 

Axel made a detour on his way back to the tower when he started craving pancakes. Also, he didn't feel like being bombarded with questions from everyone.

He rolled up the sleeves, again. The jumper was huge, whoever this belonged to was a giant, after rolling the sleeves three times he still had a bad case of sweater paws. 

Axel saw Katy coming with his pancakes and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Thank you, Katy."

She smiled at him, "You're welcome, you beautiful psycho." She booped his nose and walked away.

After Katy left, someone sat at his table, Axel looked up, ready to chew someone out for sitting there but his words dried up in his mouth when he saw Nick Fury sitting there, with shades on and dressed in a turtle neck sweater. Axel couldn't decide which was stranger, the sweater or the fact that Nick Fury was here.

"Can I help you?" He asked in pure confusion.

"Let's skip the small talk, I've heard about you and what you have accomplished, and I need your help." 

Axel dropped his fork in shock, he wasn't gonna ask questions and waste time, "I'm listening." 

"HYDRA'S back. Two months ago, this guy stumbles into the headquarters demanding to speak to me, I get there, he hands me a memory card and says find the king and just dies right there." 

"What was on the card?" Nick slides a file across the table for Axel to read. 

"I was hoping you would tell me, it's in some kind of ancient language and it doesn't make any sense. I had my best people working on that for weeks and..." 

"None of them would have figured it out if they weren't vampires, or me. It's a code they use to communicate, their leader taught it to me years ago, it's Archaic Latin and Old Norse with a little Romanian tucked in there." Axel flipped through the file, "That's how they're finding them." 

"Finding who?"

Axel looked at him carefully and decided to tell him, Nick Fury has never given him a bad vibe and he already read the man, "I also found out about Hydra just this morning. The leader of the vampire clans reached out to me a couple weeks ago and said hunters were taking his people and he didn't know where, they kept moving around but somehow the hunters kept finding them. It says here they captured a banshee several years ago named Edith, she's old as hell." 

"A banshee? Like the wailing woman?"

"Exactly, they are also very good at finding people when they're at full power. This one is a prisoner at a Hydra base, one of the biggest ones." Axel made a face of disgust, "It's in Texas."


	43. Chapter 43

"Our objective is simple, Axel and Ruby find Edith, and the rest of us provide back up and destroy the base. Bucky, I want you up in this watch tower, you're gonna keep watch and pick out any straglers. Clint you're gonna be on this watch tower doing the same thing. Sam and Lorenzo, you're our eyes in the sky. Tony is coming in with Nat and I. Axel, you and Ruby are going to go in first, I'll drop you on the roof, you have fifteen minutes to get Edith and get out before the bomb goes off."

"I sent scouts out yesterday, to check the place out. It's built like a prison, the only prisoner is Edith, we can totally kill everyone else, if we wanted."

Lorenzo frowned, "Since when do you have scouts?"

"I am a highly respected member of the supernatural society. I have so many strings I can pull." 

"He's the king of the demons." Ruby stated making Axel sigh in annoyance.

"I am not the king of anything, Ruby, we talked about this."

"Not yet anyway. The mermaids still haven't gotten on board, they think Axel is a dick." 

"Mermaids?" Clint asked incredulously.

Axel rolled his eyes, "They're not nice at all. They're all teeth and nails, and they like to spray water on your thousand dollar leather boots, absolutely destroying them in the process."

Steve banged his hand in the table, "Can we focus. We're reaching the destination in five, get ready you two."

Axel slipped on his leather gloves, zipped up his black jacket, and pulled down his mask to cover his face. Ruby handed him his axe and she to, pulled down her mask to cover her face.

"Don't die, I guess." Axel addressed everyone else with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Opening hatch in three, two." The hatch opened and Axel jumped out, followed by Ruby.

"Did they have parachutes?" Nat asked, "We're a hundred feet up, I don't think I saw them with parachutes."

"Who knows."

*********

After they landed the jet, the team separated into their groups and set out to do their tasks. Steve, Tony and Natasha, entered the building from the North and made their way to the control centre, where Tony would set it to blow up the entire building.

They cautiously walked through the base. It was quiet, the lights were flickering every now and then, and it felt unusually cold. Suddenly, there was a loud scream and the building shook. The coms crackled in their ears.

"We got her, don't worry about the scream, it was nothing. We have a little resistance up here, so down there might be a bit empty. We're on our way down, should be there in nine minutes." The trio could hear gun shots and screaming in the background, and it cut out.

"Let's go then." 

They continued walking through the base. It was a ghost town, there was not a soul in sight. "I don't like this, all of them can't be up there fighting off Axel." Natasha wondered.

Tony nodded, "I agree, we need to be careful."

They made it to the control room without resistance of any kind. Tony set up everything while Steve and Natasha watched his back. There was a loud scream again and the ceiling cracked, a loud growl followed after, that prompted Tony to type faster. 

"Okay, I'm finished, let's get the hell out of here." Steve left first with his shield up, covering himself. Natasha and Tony had their weapons raised behind him.

The corridor was empty again and dead silent. Steve cautiously led the trio back to the exit in the direction they came from. They were almost there with five minutes on the clock, when they were suddenly ambushed. 

"Drop your weapons." A very muscular man, with a heavy German accent stepped out in front of the crowd of Hydra agents, "Or else..." 

One of the agents from a behind them, screamed out in pain and everyone turned to see him bleeding heavily from his mouth. When he dropped, Axel stood behind him with a bloody axe and a scowl on his unmasked, and very bloodied face. 

And that's when the fight started.

************

Axel had Edith curled up in his lap on the ride home. She refused to let him go ever since they got out of the lab. She just clung to him like a koala bear and never let go. Axel didn't have a problem with it, he was so used to it with Ruby, since they met, she had not slept by herself once. 

Axel just guessed it was because they were banshees, even though they were very powerful, they tended to be very fragile, emotionally. When they were put in intense traumatizing situations, that would hurt them in any way, they would cling to any powerful demon they could find. Most of the time it would be a hellhound.

Ruby was next to him, sleeping with her head on his should, Edith was still awake and shaking in fright. Axel did his best to calm her down, he was currently running his fingers through her dark hair and letting her play with his inside shirt.

Axel was still a bit pissed at how he found her. In a thin dirty hospital gown, dangling from the ceiling, hooked up to a vast amount of different machines. She had to have been there for a long time, screaming so many times that she couldn't even speak. Killing Nazis never felt so good.

As soon as they got back to the tower, Axel carried Edith to his bathroom to get her cleaned up. She was filthy, her hair was caked with dirt and she had a very strong odor. He sat her down on the sink and peeled off the hospital gown, then guided her to his large malachite tiled shower. 

Ruby came in when he was almost finished washing the dirt off, "What about the other bases and the prison? We can deal with her later, there are thousands of innocent creatures inside that prison, we can't waste time."

"Ruby, shut up. I get what you're saying, but they're still gonna be there in fifteen minutes after I make sure she's comfortable." Axel gave Edith the choice between coconut body wash or lemon. She seemed pretty surprised at first and then confused, so he opened them and let her smell them to see which one she reacted to. She liked the lemon more, so he put back the coconut one and handed her the lemon.

"Still, we need to hurry this up." 

"I did this for you once. I had so much shit happening that night, I skipped out on my movie premiere to go to Ohio with you, one of my apartment buildings caught fire that night. There was a man who used to go to the NA meetings the community centre held, he overdosed and died that night. I still spent it with you, making sure you didn't go crazy after just figuring out what happened to you, I think you should be the first person to understand why I'm not rushing this."

Ruby stood at the door for a moment before sighing and stepping farther into the room, "She needs shampoo." 

Axel held up two bottles, "Sandalwood or Rose."


	44. Chapter 44

"There's thirty bases, we are going to attack all of the small ones first. I can see you trying to protest, Ruby, but contrary to popular belief, I know how to plan a war. I read the art of war last night, I know what not to do." 

The leaders of every single type of demon, from all over the world, stood in one of the gardens of the fairies. Since the fairies where tucked away in a magical realm, it made sense to conduct their meeting there. Even the mermaids showed up.

"We attack the small bases first, the ones that hold things with the most value. We do that, and those little idiots are gonna run off and gather at the biggest base, which is in Russia. That base is also where most of the prisoners are kept, not all of us will have to go there. We attack them when they least expect it. Approximately fifteen minutes after they all settle into the new base and they think "those demons are never gonna find me here", we attack." 

They all nodded along in agreement, this was going great, until that mermaid bitch had to say something. "Does this mean you accept the role of our leader?" 

Axel sighed, "Sure, whatever."

"You don't sound very enthusiastic about it. I'm not sure if I can follow the plan of a man who doesn't know what he wants." 

"Now is not the time, maybe after this we can talk about that." Axel stuffed his hands on his pockets, to keep him from punching the American mermaid leader.

But, instead of silence like he wanted, the leader of the Romanian vampires spoke up, "Michael is right. If you accept the position, why are you not wearing the ring?"

Axel sighed again, reached into the neck of his pink jumper, and pulled out a silver chain with a clunky black ring attached. "Can we continue?"

"Why isn't it on your finger?" The New Zealand zombie leader questioned and everyone made a sound of agreement.

Axel took it off the chain and slipped it on, muttering under his breath, "Doesn't even go with my outfit, but whatever." Edith giggled beside him. "Can we continue now?"

"Yes."

"We are going to be working together in groups, so whatever differences you have, settle them now. I'm talking to you, werewolves and zombies. We need this to work, or else we're gonna lose. Think about the people you have depending on you. You can go back to hating each other afterwards." 

They grunted in acknowledgement, and gave each other the most hateful look ever.

Axel rolled his eyes, "We're gonna hit Iceland first..."

************

The next few days were spent raiding and planning. Axel wasn't doing any raiding, he was a homebase of sorts. Him and most of his human comrades set up a com station in the office. The new estate he bought after the paedophile massacre was good enough, it took them a week to clean it out and a week to set it up.

The office was busy, he had one set of people dealing with the usual stuff people called for, and the other set was monitoring the raids. Two people were on Iceland, two on Perth, Manny and Ruby were dealing with Nevada, and Axel had Sokovia.

"Petra, there are two enhanced humans inside this base. The girl is a telepath and the dude is really fast, if they attack, kill them. Don't let the girl get into your head, she is very powerful. You are going to have to disorient her, how many banshees do you have?" He was reading all of his information off of the file marked Sokovia from the flash drive.

There was static for a while, then Petra's voice came through, "Six."

"Send them in first, they have to enter the West side of the building. The building has a force field around it, give me five minutes to disarm it, then you can attack."

"Yes sir." 

Axel covered his head piece with his hand, "Stefan, how's it going?" 

"Almost there, boss." Axel sighed, no one would stop calling him that. 

Yasha entered the space with Martha and three boxes, "We made cookies and donuts for everyone." Edith jumped up and went to table with the food.

"It's down boss." Stefan yelled out.

Axel went back to Petra, "Okay Petra, it's down. Send in the banshees."

"Yes sir." The line cut off.

Ruby jumped up, "Nevada is down! Some people escaped but the base has been blown to smithereens."

Everyone cheered, and someone went over to the white board they set up to mark a third base down, it was just Sokovia left for today. Petra chimed back in a few moments later.

"The two enhanced are down, the banshees were a good idea sir." Everyone gathered around the table listening in, "We had a bit of trouble, but the werewolves came through with the zombies."

"That's great news." 

The gun shots stopped and so did the shouting. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard and Petra chimed back in, "Sokovia is down down. No survivors." 

"That's even better news, get back to base." Axel got up and marked off Sokovia, "Five down, ten more to go." 

************

Axel burst into Bruce's lab one day, startling the man a bit. He looked disheveled, his usually tidy hair was all over the place, his glasses were missing from his fac, he looked tired and he was wearing sweats, so it has to be bad. "I need your help." 

"I don't really feel like turning into the other guy right now. Can't you ask someone else?" 

Axel was confused, "What are you talking about? I don't need the Hulk, I need you." Bruce looked a bit shocked, but Axel didn't really care, "I saw this abomination in a file I stole from the nazis, it's a bunch of formulas I don't understand. Someone told me it could be physics and you're the only physicist I know. Contrary to popular belief, I am not very good at anything academic, it's all theatre up here. I had to repeat senior year." 

Axel handed Bruce the laptop he was holding. The man adjusted his glasses and read the information carefully and explained it the best he could to Axel. The Nazis seemed to be looking for some kind of poison or drug to take out a demon or something stronger. So far they had been unsuccessful, but they were using the creatures they took as experiments.


	45. Chapter 45

The raids were going strong, they had two more bases before Axel guessed that everyone else would move to the bigger base. 

The week had been fairly easy, Edith still clung to him, never going two feet without here there. He honestly didn't mind that, it was kind of nice, someone actually felt comfortable around him, and never get offended when he gets a bit too blunt. She was sweet.

Edith still hasn't said anything, some people found it a little unnerving, but Axel didn't mind. She will talk whenever she feels like. She could never talk and he would still care for her, he understood her just fine with her little grunts.

Ruby was still also fairly clingy, not to Edith's extent, but anytime he was relaxing she would get next to him and curl up in his side. At some point in the days they had been working on the raids. Both of the girls had a little disagreement about him, which was strange. He had to sit them down and tell them they were both his girls. Strangest conversation he's ever had in his life. 

Axel thought that nothing could happen to make him distracted. Him and his team, they had this. Nothing could stop them, nothing. Except, maybe one of his fucking cousins. 

Bartholomew, came into his office, while everyone was busy and tried to blow them up. He came in holding detonators, with a vest strapped to his chest. He came in yelling like a cunt and everyone had to stop what they were doing.

Mary, one of the older women that worked there yelled, "Axel! You have a visitor!" 

When they heard Axel's footsteps, everyone went back to work and ignored him. 

Axel sighed as soon as he saw the confused and sweaty man standing at his door with a bomb. "Can I help you sir?"

"I'm here to kill you and anyone else who tries to stop me. My name is Bartholomew, and I will be the king of hell." 

Axel wrapped his arm around the man's shoulder and lead him out of his office. He paid too much money for it to end up destroyed. Edith followed as usual, with a handful of peanut butter cookies. "My dude, now is not the time to be a cunt. I'm very busy at the moment, so if you could just fuck off. That would be amazing." 

The man walked with Axel down the stairs and out of the gates, "I'm serious!" 

Axel sighed, and continued to walk down the street with the hopeless idiot. There were people outside, bustling through the city as usual, and they all ran when they saw the vest. Axel was pretty sure someone had this on camera.

"I know that you're serious. I've encountered a long line of pathetic idiots like you. Wanting to feel something special, so you threaten to kill a bunch of people to achieve it, innocent people. But, I'm here to tell you, you are never going to be special, ever. You could find the cure for cancer and no one would give a shit. Your life is sad, your own mother left you in a dumpster because she knew how unimportant and tragic you would become. Lucifer doesn't want anyone like you on the throne, he wants purity, courage, leadership skills, and most of all, not you." 

Axel pat the idiot's chest and kept walking down the street with his arm around the now crying man. "Yes, cry. Get it all out. We're gonna wait here for the police to show up and lock your stupid ass up."

Bartholomew moved his thumb off the detonator, and squeezed his eyes shut. "No need for that, you're not getting off that easily." The idiot looked down at the vest when he didn't turn into burger chunks, and saw six of the wires cut.

"No." He looked up at Axel with pleading eyes , "I can't go to jail, please kill me." 

"I don't feel like getting blood on my Louis jacket, it cost too much." He dusted off the idiot's shoulder, "I bet you'll like it there." 

Three police cars pulled up on the curb and all the officers got out, with their weapons pointing at Bartholomew. Axel slapped him and the shoulder, took Edith's hand and kept walking in the direction they were going. "The wires are cut, it's useless." He informed the police, when they heard, they tackled the idiot and put the cuffs on him. 

"You want ice cream?" He asked Edith, who nodded in delight.

************

"The last two bases are down!" Everyone cheered and Axel high five a few people, "I want to thank everyone here. You didn't have to help me but you did, even though this has nothing to do with you. You guys rock."

"Anytime, boss." Yasha laughed when Axel sighed after he called him boss. 

"Now, we wait. We will monitor the rest of the bases and the prison, if they don't move out in three days, we will destroy them all at the same time, and I will get the prisoners out myself." 

Mary's head popped through the doorway, "Axel there's cops outside, they want to talk to you about Bartholomew."

Axel frowned, "Who?"

"The cunt from yesterday." 

Axel nodded in acknowledgement, "I'm coming. I trust you know what to do, you can take a break of you want." Axel followed Mary to the front door and greeted the cops.

"You wanted to talk to me about the idiot from yesterday?" One cop raised his eyebrow, the other just looked like he wanted to punch Axel.

"Yes, if you could come down to the station with us and answer a few questions, that would be lovely."

"Why can't we do it here?" 

"We feel more comfortable doing this at the station."

Axel sighed in annoyance and nodded. "Mary, tell everyone I'm leaving." He followed the cops back to their car and got in. They drove off.

"You're not in any kind of trouble, but you have a bit of a reputation with the precinct." They stopped at a red light.

"Sorry about that. I'm a very busy person, it can be impossible to find time sometimes." The light turned green and he moved off again.

"I can understand that. It's just..." Suddenly, the car was hit by a black semi-trailer truck, hard, it drove them into a bank, filled with screaming people and finally stopped. Two men got out of the truck, wearing gas masks and carrying a large canteen with a hose attachment.

Axel was dead in the car, a large shard of glass was lodged deep in his chest and the cops were heavily injured. The two assailants, pried open the back seat and dragged Axel's body out. They sprayed a red substance in his face and hauled him into the truck.

***************

"In breaking news, Axel Stark has been kidnapped and is presumed dead by authorities, based on the video. Mr. Stark had a glass shard stuck in his chest when he was taken, and he was bleeding heavily..."

The office was quiet, you could probably hear a pin drop. Manny sighed, "We're going with Plan B then. Call the Russians."

Yasha dialled the number on his phone and put it on speaker phone. A man with a thick heavy accent answered, "Da."

"Plan B is a go."

Ruby looked around the office, "Where is Edith?"

***************

"... he was taken by two men wearing gas masks, who sprayed a red mist in his face..."

June's Cafe was silent as everyone watched the news. The old lady had tears streaming down her face and held her hand to her mouth, "Oh god."

Lorenzo, who was on a lunch date with Wade, stood up quickly, and dialled his dad's number, "Plan B."

He hung up, grabbed Wade's hand and left the cafe in a hurry.

*************

Edith clung to the back of the truck Axel had been taken in. She was following the police car after Axel left in it and saw the whole thing. She couldn't let them take Axel, the banshee knew he was strong enough to escape, but she didn't want him to go through what she went through for all those years. He saved her life all those weeks ago and she would set her fear aside and save him to.


	46. Chapter 46

When Axel finally became conscious, he puked, a lot. Whatever it was they kept spraying in his face did something, not anything bad as they probably expected. Quiet the opposite actually, he felt, stronger. So much stronger. 

Axel panted, trying to catch his breath and he relaxed. He dropped his hands on the thin bed he was placed on and was suddenly assaulted by an abundance of visions. Memories that the walls held, of every single person that was ever held in this room. This was very new. He could only do this to people. Those idiots probably have no idea what they did.

He let go of the bed when the visions stopped, "Cool. Very cool." He heard sharp breathing beside him and looked across into a dark corner. He frowned at first, but when he caught the scent, he smiled. 

"Edith? What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be helping Ruby." She walked across to him and sat on the bed to lean her head into his side. "You came to rescue me?"

She nodded.

Axel chuckled, "Well, thank you. You wanna watch my back and help me rescue the prisoners?" 

She nodded. Axel stood up and stretched out, he didn't know what changed, but he liked pleasant surprises. He grabbed Edith's hand and lead her to the door. 

"Ready?" Edith nodded, Axel put his hand on the door and the vision thing happened again, it kind of startled him and he pushed lightly on the steel door, of all the things that could happen, he did not expect the door and the walls to break off and crash into the floor outside, leaving a huge hole as the doorway.

"Huh?" 

**********

"How are you guys so calm about this? Your son just got kidnapped and could be dead, you should be a mess right now." Clint had been ranting about this for a while now. Him, Nick Fury, Maria and Natasha barged in talking about rescue mission, and methods to get Axel back. Nick actually thought it may be his fault, because he put Axel on the case. But they were very shocked to find Lorenzo, Bucky, Steve, Wade and Tony watching cartoons.

"He's fine. Trust me. He's totally fine, he got blown up once and walked away like it was nothing. He's gotta be fine." Enzo tried to get him to calm down, but it sounded like he was trying to calm himself down.

Just then Bruce barged into the room with Thor on his heals, "Tony I just heard the news, if you need help getting him back, I'm here."

"Yes man of iron. We will crush those filthy people who took your beloved son."

Tony stood up, "Okay. It's time to tell you about my son, and hopefully you'll understand why we aren't reacting the way you are." They nodded, "First things first, Axel can't die, it's literally impossible. Second, he's a demon and he's probably stronger than Thor. He's done tons of stuff like this and came back fine, totally fine, more than fine. You remember that thing with the paedophiles a few months back? I know right, he did that all by himself, what's a few nazis? He's super fine."

Clint's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, "No way. Some of the attacks happened at the same time, there no way he could have done that by himself."

"Him and seventy demons that follow him. They split up into groups. Axel reads The Art Of War religiously, he could probably plan an attack on Europe and win it with three people. He did it with Alexander, with Wade and Ruby helping him. He's definitely fine." Lorenzo offered. He sounded proud of what his brother did, even if th police had stated it was the worst crime scene they had ever witnessed. 

"He's the King of The Underworld, him and all of the supernatural world have been, kind of at war with Hydra for a month now, him being kidnapped was part of plan b. I'm like forty percent sure he's totally fine." Bucky chimed in.

"He told us not to worry if it ever happened, so we're not visibly worrying. I'm sure he's super fine." Steve input, he was bouncing his knee and picking at the sleeves of his shirt. 

On further inspection, all five of them looked like they were gonna vomit with anxiety. Wade, who was usually talking by now, just sat there biting his finger nails and staring off into the distance.

"What if he dies? What if they have some kind of demon killing weapon, and they kill him? He's my best friend, who the hell am I gonna jerk off next to now? Who's gonna snuggle me for no reason? Who's gonna watch the Kardashians with me?" 

Bucky was tapping his metal fingers on the coffee table rapidly, "Wade could be right, we haven't heard from him yet. What if Hydra got smart and found some kind of poison to kill him? I wouldn't be able to handle it. Who's gonna run things around here?" 

Tony turned to the other people in the room, the ones who aren't crying, with that fake smile he gave to the cameras, "As you can see, we are playing a waiting game. Axel was supposed to call us thirty minutes ago, so we're pretending everything is fine, because we have no idea where the base is." 

"No idea. He didn't even tell us, and none of us know Ruby's number, or any of the people she works with." Lorenzo added, he started pacing the room and running his hands through his hair.

Nick Fury cleared his throat, "Axel gave me the number for his office and his assistant Delilah." The five looked at him in shock, "We were working together on this Hydra thing and he refused to give me his personal number." 

"Give it here right n..." Tony's phone rang in his pocket and he paused. He pulled it out and answered immediately, "Axel?"

"No it's Ruby, we need some help here at the office. Axel has way too much faith in us, we need extra hands to guide the raiding parties through the bases. There are seventeen to go in one evening, the most we've ever done is five. Some of these people don't speak English and none of us speak German." 

"Well be right there." Tony hung up, "We're going to Axel's office, they need back up. Who here speaks German?" Everyone except Bruce raised their hands.

****************

Axel and Edith made it to the control panels. They were covered in blood and brain bits, but they were fine. Axel didn't discover any other new powers, besides the God like strength and the vision thing. Although, he hadn't been doing much, Edith meant it when she said she was here to protect him, if anyone got within ten feet of him, she would scream until their head exploded. It was the coolest thing, he had ever seen.

They locked the door when they made it in and came face to face with two very frightened guards, "Oh shit." One of them whispered.

Axel smiled widely, his canines were showing, and they looked extra sharp, Edith supposed that was also a new thing. Edith flipped her black hair out of her green eyes and stepped forward to do her thing, but Axel held her back.

"Not yet, love. They have to do something for me first." He whispered into her ear, she nodded and stopped dead in her tracks, giving both guards a look of pure hatred. "I want you to open every cell door and disarm every single shock collar. I want you guys to release the prisoners, all of them, or I will let my dear friend, kill you where you stand. Let me tell you, she is not as gentle and as sweet as she looks." 

They both nodded frantically, and got to work.

*************

The team plus Fury, were all pleasantly surprised when they saw what Axel did with the place. He took a shit hole, that was covered in blood two months ago, and made it look like a rich, extravagant, person lived there. It was his usual two colours for decorating, black and green. But this place had traces of gold creeping through the black marble floor, and the walls were covered in large malachite tiles with a gold border. This looked nothing like an office. But it felt like Axel's home.

Ruby split them up in pairs and gave each of them a base to work on. The idle chatter served as background noise, and each assignment gave them something to think about besides Axel. It was kind of nice to be the one behind the scenes forsinxe. It felt like they were always fighting some battle, and it always ended with someone getting severely hurt. This was a nice change of scenery.

************

The prison was in chaos and Axel loved it. As soon as the doors were open and the collars were off, the prisoners rioted. Killing every single agent in sight, the vampires especially were having the time of their lives, biting into the necks of those who tortured them for years. 

He gathered everyone after the festivities, and walked with them to the entrance, where he found fifty plus Hydra agents waiting for them. They all wore gas masks, and had cattle prods in their hands. At least they knew guns won't work. The man in front looked like he was the one running things around here, since he didn't have any weapon or mask.

Axel stopped everyone behind him, including Edith, and walked forward to greet them. "Move, or I will kill you."

"It's sad you don't recognise your own cousin. Don't you remember me, Bartholomew?"

Axel frowned, "Who?"

The man looked really offended, "I tried to blow you up two days ago."

"Oh yes. Dumpster baby, I already knew you were a Hydra agent. That's how I got all the information about this place. We didn't even know exactly where it was, until you came along. So, thank you. But, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you now."

Bartholomew raised his eyebrow, "What?" He watched Axel step to the side and suddenly a loud scream ripped through his head.

*************

All of the bases had been terminated, they were just waiting for Axel to confirm the last one was down. Everyone stood around the radio, Axel's transmission should come through any second now. He was supposed to call hours ago, but they heard nothing. 

The front door opened, they all heard it, but none of them acknowledged it. They couldn't focus on anything, but the fact that Axel could be dead. 

"What are you guys doing?" 

"We're waiting on Axel, he could call any second now."

"I took the radio part out of Plan B, you guys were just supposed to wait until I got back." 

They all let out a series of gasps and turned to the door where Axel and Edith stood, in their bloody glory.


	47. Chapter 47

3 Years Later,

Axel sat in the surprisingly comfortable one seater sofa opposite the journalist interviewing him. He donned a navy blue and pink, checkered, three piece suit and black Armani boots. His hairs was slicked back and trimmed at the base of his neck, black glasses perched on his nose and gold, cross earings in his ear lobes. He legs were crossed, and he sipped the cup of tea in his hands. He looked as professional as he could, and he fucking hated it, but this was for his book and his publicist threatened to leave him if he didn't go, so.

"You have a new book coming out on Friday, called These Violent Delights. Could you tell us what it's about?"

"It's both fact and fiction. It's a biography of sorts. Everything that happened in my life that shaped me into the person I am today, and things I really wanted to do to the people who did them."

"How did you come up with the title?"

"The book is very violent and bloody. I went through at least ten different titles when I was in the process of writing it, and my friend, who loves Shakespeare, just quoted it to me one day and it just clicked, because the violence in the book is not painted in a negative light, it is seen as somewhat, pleasing, delightful even."

The lady sifted through her questions, "Now I discovered something about you, that you did not write in the book. Not even a mention. You run a charity for people in need, it houses them, feeds them, gives their kids somewhere to go after school in the summer, so they don't end up on the streets. The Saint Joseph Foundation? Why didn't you add that part to the book." 

"There's a reason that wasn't public knowledge, it was so people would feel safe reaching out to us. How did you find out about that?"

"It's my job." Axel sighed and gestured for her to continue , "Your father just got married, and so did your brother. You just turned thirty one, when do you plan on settling down?"

Axel looked at her ring finger, "You're at least ten years older than I am, when do you plan on settling down, since you're clearly not married." 

She looked flustered, she cleared her throat and looked back at someone. Axel looked behind the camera at his assistant, Delilah, who gave him a thumbs up.

"You have a movie coming out next month called, Sunny Days and it's a horror. You dropped the trailer for it three weeks ago, and it doesn't look that scary. It seems the most tame out of all of your work, is it?"

"I can assure you, it is not the most tame I've done, that one goes to, Mommas Boy. Sunny Days is a psychological horror, when you're finished watching it, it's supposed to make you paranoid as hell. I constructed the trailer that way so I wouldn't spoil anything, and I'm not dropping another one."

"You're saying, Mommas Boy is your most tame work? Didn't that have people passing out in the theatre?"

"Oh yeah, some people were puking, no one could look at the screen and everyone walked out." Axel chuckled, "It was wonderful, that was the exact reaction I wanted." 

"Don't you think that, your movies and books maybe a little too violent?"

"No, I don't. But this is the last one for the next three or so years, I just singed on to write the script for two action movies, my agent says I need to step out of my bubble and show people I have range. My publicist said the same thing so, you should expect some romance coming, I'm probably gonna put some psychotic twist in there but, it's a romance so." Axel shrugged.

"I'm being told we should wrap this up. Last question, how do you plan on celebrating the success of your book when it releases?"

"I'm probably gonna stay at home and watch some t.v.with a glass of wine or something. My dad and Steve are on their honey moon now, so the tower will be empty." 

"That's all we have time for, it was lovely talking to you Axel."

"Same." 

*************

Friday night found Axel driving him and Edith to his secondary office, the one run by Ruby. This office was used to monitor his underworld, to make sure it stayed secret and no one was trying to kill them again. 

"You want anything before we get there?" 

Edith shook her head.

Axel nodded and sped up, "Do you think this is an actual emergency? Ruby has been blocking me out for a couple weeks now."

Edith shrugged and gave him a look.

"You're right, probably just over thinking as usual." He parked his car in the lot of the old college he confiscated from drug dealers, and both of them got out. The lot was filled with other cars, meaning everyone and then some were here.

He took Edith's hand and they both walked through the front doors. There was music playing and he could smell food. Axel frowned in confusion and walked toward, what used to be the gym, but what was now, just an open space he had no idea what to do with. 

As soon as he entered, every turned around and started clapping. The microphone rang and Axel looked on the stage, where Ruby stood holding a glass of wine.

"Axel, you have been working way too hard on your book for the past few months, so we thought we should throw you a party. Your book has been out for eight hours now, and we have a little game we're playing called guess how many books were sold. So come on in and enjoy the party."

Axel breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god. I did not want to get blood on my cashmere sweater tonight."


End file.
